The election is over. The campaign commercials have stopped, the yard signs have been removed, the votes have been counted, and all of the races (or nearly all of the races) have been decided. Now comes the hard part: governing.

By electoral standards many races were won handily. Nation-wide President-elect Obama won 53% of the vote, a virtual landslide by modern standards. Here at home, Governor Gregoire won re-election over challenger Dino Rossi by 53-47 percent. Yet this means that 47 percent of Washington voters cast their ballots against Gregoire. Likewise, here in the 8th district, Rep. Dave Reichert won 52 percent to Darcy Burner’s 48 percent. The vote returns Reichert to Washington, D.C., but at the same time means that 48 percent of 8th district voters preferred the challenger to the incumbent.

The challenge for the winners now is how to govern in a way that honors the wishes of the majority of the electorate who voted for them, but still respects the people who did not. After they are sworn in, our leaders cannot simply steam-roll over the nearly half of the population who did not vote for them.

It is fair to say that our elected officials have their hands full. Even in Sammamish and Issaquah, where no city council positions were up for grabs during this election, our local leaders must contend with a host of issues on which residents are divided.

In Sammamish, the parks bond received a majority of votes (54 percent), but nevertheless did not pass because it did not receive the necessary 60 percent supermajority. Clearly a majority of Sammamish residents feel that improvements to our parks and the addition of a teen/community center would make Sammamish a more livable city. Council members must honor the results of the election, yet at the same time continue to move forward in a way that meets the needs of the residents, now and in the future. We now have a library building that will be vacant once the library moves to its new location near city hall. And we still need something for the 4,500 students from Inglewood Junior High, Eastlake, Skyline and Eastside Catholic high schools to do with themselves after the school bell rings.

The Sammamish community also remains divided over the East Lake Sammamish Parkway project. Many residents continue to voice their opinion that the Parkway project should be changed, delayed or scrapped altogether. When city officials move forward on that project, they must do so in a way that makes residents know that their voices are being heard and the needs of the greater community — for traffic relief, for safety, for fiscal responsibility, and for a healthy lake and livable community — are being met.

Citizens in Issaquah approved the fire bond in a strong statement of support at 67 percent “yes.” But other important issues will be facing the Issaquah Council in coming months, including the weighty Park Pointe land swap and preservation deal, what to do about traffic in the absence of the Southeast Bypass and how to fill the financial void that will be left by the council’s failure to approve a 1 percent property tax increase.

The peaceful transition of power between the outgoing government and the incoming officeholder is one of the hallmarks of American democracy. But inherent in that is the assumption that government must faithfully to try to meet the needs of all citizens.