The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State ...

The Seventeenth Amendment profoundly altered Article I, Section 3 by providing for direct election of the Senate. Several interrelated factors explain its ratification: (1) legislative deadlocks ...

Since 1913, when the 17th Amendment to the Constitution established the direct election of senators and provided a means to fill Senate seats vacated due to resignation, death, expulsion or what ...