diff --git a/policyengine_core/tools/hugging_face.py b/policyengine_core/tools/hugging_face.py
index 47fb1906..cbf41fdf 100644
--- a/policyengine_core/tools/hugging_face.py
+++ b/policyengine_core/tools/hugging_face.py
@@ -25,10 +25,9 @@ def download_huggingface_dataset(repo: str, repo_filename: str, version: str = N
     """
     # Attempt connection to Hugging Face model_info endpoint
     # (https://huggingface.co/docs/huggingface_hub/v0.26.5/en/package_reference/hf_api#huggingface_hub.HfApi.model_info)
-    # Unfortunately, this endpoint will 401 on a private repo,
-    # but also on a public repo with a malformed URL, etc.
-    # Assume a 401 means the token is required.
-
+    # Attempt to fetch model info to determine if repo is private
+    # A RepositoryNotFoundError & 401 likely means the repo is private,
+    # but this error will also surface for public repos with malformed URL, etc.
     try:
         fetched_model_info: ModelInfo = model_info(repo)
         is_repo_private: bool = fetched_model_info.private
@@ -43,16 +42,16 @@ def download_huggingface_dataset(repo: str, repo_filename: str, version: str = N
             + "is private, the URL is malformed, or the dataset does not exist."
         )
 
-    token: str = None
+    authentication_token: str = None
     if is_repo_private:
-        token: str = get_or_prompt_hf_token()
+        authentication_token: str = get_or_prompt_hf_token()
 
     return hf_hub_download(
         repo_id=repo,
         repo_type="model",
         filename=repo_filename,
         revision=version,
-        token=token,
+        token=authentication_token,
     )