“It is,” Kruse agreed.

Kruse, who was there to brief the board on preparations for Election Day, told members the same two things he told the Millard Business Association last week. One: Election commissioners don’t write the ballots, they just print them. Two: “The good thing is, there’s plenty of time to be an informed voter.”

In an interview, Kruse said, “It will be very important that voters do educate themselves in terms of what their opinion is, and then which way to vote to express their opinion,” Kruse said.

Or at least read the ballot language carefully. Merely scanning through it and then filling in the oval next to the word that seems to represent a voters’ opinion on the death penalty could lead to voting against their own views.

The “retain” and “repeal” wording has no nefarious intent. Rather, it is rooted in what the referendum is actually about, in statutory requirements for how ballot measures are worded, and in how we normally talk about the death penalty.