Regarding the article on the STV campaign in the current edition ["Locals peddle new STV electoral system," The Chief, April 10], I miscommunicated a factual item to you and I need to remedy this error. The problematic quote printed was:"Surveys have shown that nearly everyone who voted 'no' or didn't vote on the referendum in 2005 was in fact supportive once they learned more about STV," said Joseph. "Our challenge is thus to reach out to those who need more information."This statement is factually incorrect and I take responsibility for it. The more accurate statement, at least as I understand the research, is that surveys have shown that the vast majority of people were more likely to vote yes in the 2005 referendum when they were better informed. The surveys done by political scientists Cutler et al. (2008) and McKelvy (2008) found a strong positive relationship between likelihood to vote yes and their level of understanding of the Citizen's Assembly and the STV system.
My statement quoted is incorrect in that while level of understanding and the likelihood to vote yes are strongly positively related, the surveys were done before the referendum, not after.
I personally discussed the referendum with people who voted no last time, and these people did "kick themselves" when I informed them what the referendum was about, but this differs from the research done by Cutler et al. and McKelvy, which involved surveys of people and their level of education on STV prior to the referendum.
It is very important to me to be factually correct. I wanted to correct my mistake.
Chris Joseph
Squamish
