diff --git a/rapids/models.py b/rapids/models.py
index a51980da..4363d40b 100644
--- a/rapids/models.py
+++ b/rapids/models.py
@@ -458,7 +458,7 @@ class CidUserAnswer(models.Model):
             self.answer = self.answer.strip()
 
             s = self.answer.lower()
-            s = s.translate(str.maketrans('', '', string.punctuation))
+            s = s.translate(str.maketrans('', '', string.punctuation.replace("#", "")))
 
             self.answer_compare = s