STIP believes in the importance of enabling all residents of Delft to cast their vote. In previous local elections, ballots were sent in Dutch without any form of information for non-Dutch residents of Delft. It is quite challenging for our expats and foreign students - who reside in Delft temporarily - to vote, as they do not understand the meaning of the ballot they receive.
STIP and our local government have a clear point of view on the manner. The local governing parties, including STIP, aspire governmental communication ‘in two languages: Dutch and English.’ STIP is satisfied with the local Board (Mayor and Aldermen) stating that information regarding the next local elections in 2014 will also be provided in English.
The question remains whether the proposed ‘usual communication channels’ such as the local paper will be sufficient to communicate with the non-Dutch residents of Delft – STIP can imagine that a Dutch newspaper is read by few foreigners.
In our opinion, one must think of other channels of communication to reach out to our expats, like cooperation with companies that employ them. A possible solution could be that the city of Delft provides information through those company's (digital) news updates.
Consider this bilingual article as STIP taking accurate first measures.
