Casting a vote with a pencil - why ?

Nehaxak

Simple question - why are only pencils supplied at voting booths to cast your vote rather than pens ?

I ask, as having worked in a number of countries much more corrupt than Ireland can hopefully ever be, vote rigging was rampant at elections and it was not unknown for multiples of votes cast to be edited afterwards or en-route to their versions of counting centres.
Given a vote cast in pencil could be rubbed out and recast quickly as to the desired candidate required, would the supply of pens not be a better system ?

Is it only because it's believed (or is the case?) that people make mistakes themselves when casting votes and that they need to rub out the wrong vote cast and do it again, that pencils are supplied over pens ?

Are there any independent monitors from outside Ireland present throughout the process of counting and transportation of ballot boxes like there are in some other countries ?

While I understand in general that a few votes fiddled can't impact on an election, it's not been unknown in the past for some seats to come right down to the wire with multiple recounts and the final decision resting on what amounts to a handful of votes really.

For what it's worth, I always ask for a pen myself and have in the past stood there and refused to cast my vote until one was supplied. I always had one with me anyway just in case the Garda present stepped in to tell me to feck off, but I still made the point of asking for a pen regardless, if anything just to watch those present shuffle around and look uncomfortable at the notion I was clearly inferring. When I was younger and did this in the local school in the Dún Laoghaire constituency, the Garda present actually supplied a pen, nice chap that he was.

nesf

Pencils always work, pens can be temperamental. Only reason I can think of.

im invisible

im sure i heard in other elections of marks not being erased completely, these votes being classed as spoiled, and being dispuited in recounts, a lot of unnecessary hassle