By ANDREW VILLENEUVE, Executive director, Northwest Progressive Institute

On Nov. 4, a record-breaking 3.1 million Washingtonians cast ballots to decide who will lead our state and our nation for the next four years.

Turnout across the Evergreen State this year was 84.6 percent, topping the previous record of 84.5 percent set way back in 1944. Voters instructed the state’s 11 electors to cast their presidential votes for Barack Obama, re-elected Gov. Chris Gregoire to a second four-year term, and chose a new Lands Commissioner (Peter Goldmark) as well as a new Superintendent of Public Schools (Randy Dorn). Puget Sound voters also approved the expansion of Sound Transit’s bus, commuter rail and light rail service.

The 2008 presidential election may be behind us, but the people we elected to lead us only a month ago won’t be resting easy this holiday season. State leaders are already grappling with a huge projected deficit in the budget, while President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team are busy working on plans to make good on Obama’s campaign pledges to end the occupation of Iraq, rebuild America’s infrastructure and revitalize the economy.

Few would dispute that the challenges we’re facing are tough. Our leaders know they have their work cut out for them. That’s why, in the midst of the holiday season, they are seeking your input about how they should move forward. Barack Obama’s transition team has launched www.change.gov, where you can read and comment on recommendations that interest groups are submitting to his transition team, share your ideas or stories with the President-elect, or watch his weekly YouTube video address on demand.

What’s revolutionary about Change.gov is that it facilitates genuine two-way communication between the President-elect and the American people. The Internet has brought a whole new meaning to the idea of open government, creating new opportunities for interaction and making information more freely available.

Obama’s transition team has already hosted a number of discussions at Change.gov, asking questions like “What worries you most about the healthcare system in our country?” The latest conversation starter “How is the current economic crisis affecting you?” has already attracted over 3,000 responses. You, too, can join in the dialogue, simply by logging on to www.change.gov and clicking “Join the Discussion.” You can even subscribe to have new comments delivered to your mobile phone or e-mail address if you like – the choice is yours.

Here at home in Washington state, Gov. Chris Gregoire is also making use of the Internet to gather public input. She’s unveiled a new Web site at www.governor.wa.gov, complete with a blog and a guide to constituent services. You can click “Interact” at the top of the page to send the governor your suggestions on how to deal with the budget deficit.

Gregoire has promised that all ideas submitted will be sent to her budget writers for consideration. The organization I lead, the Northwest Progressive Institute, has urged the governor to make repeal of tax loopholes a key part of the 2009-2010 budget. Removing outdated and counterproductive tax exemptions from our books could yield hundreds of millions of dollars in savings — money that could then be wisely invested in public education, which our Constitution declares to be “the paramount duty of the state” to provide.

Lands Commissioner-elect Peter Goldmark is seeking your feedback as well. Goldmark, an Okanogan rancher and former Washington State University regent, will become the leader of the Department of Natural Resources in January, replacing Republican Doug Sutherland, who has held the post for eight years. As the leader of DNR, Goldmark will be managing 5.5 million acres of state forests, aquatic resources and agricultural lands – an area eight times the size of Rhode Island.

To share your thoughts with Goldmark about sustainable use of our public lands, visit www.petergoldmark.com, where you can send a comment to the transition team or learn more about Goldmark’s priorities for the next four years.

As we gather with family and friends this holiday season to count our blessings, let’s not forget that our public servants are looking to us for advice and guidance in the New Year.

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Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a Redmond-based strategy center. E-mail feedback@nwprogressive.org or visit www.nwprogressive.org.