The drawing last week to set the order of questions for this November’s ballot was mostly a formality.

Because it is a people’s veto, by law – and by public interest – the attempt to overturn the state’s new anti-discrimination law was always going to get top billing.

Question 1 will ask: “Do you want to reject the new law that would protect people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and credit based on their sexual orientation?”

Money issues will follow. Questions 2 through 6 will ask voters to approve new state borrowing.

And Question 7 will ask voters to OK a constitutional amendment that allows waterfront land used for commercial fishing to be assessed at a reduced rate.

Between now and Election Day, much will be said about Question 1. Both sides are girded for a fight, and if history is any indication, we expect the confrontation to be clouded by the outrageous.

The issue remains one of basic fairness. Should a person be denied the protection of law because of sexual orientation? The answer: Everybody deserves the same protection under the law. It’s straightforward and simple. Other arguments – about gay marriage and the mythical homosexual conspiracy – are distractions meant to fog the issue of equal rights.

The argument for Question 1 will breathe most of the air in the election, leaving advocates for the other issues with a tough job getting their message out to voters. With seven questions crowding the ballot – and bond questions provide voters with a tremendous amount of information if they take time to read it all – some worry that questions toward the bottom will get less support as voters tire of the process.

On their merits, the questions low down on the list can easily stand up to public scrutiny. Question 6, which would approve $9 million in bonds for the University of Maine System, is as worthy of support as the four bond questions coming before it.

We’re confident that voters can sort out the facts from the fiction in this election and will take the time to work their way down the ballot and consider each question independently.

Question 1 will have the highest profile, but the voting won’t stop there.