[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
[104th Congress]
[House Document 103-342]
[The United States Constitution]
[Pages 98-99]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 98]]

 

                          AMENDMENT XVII.c


                       (See Article I, Section 3.)



Sec. 236. Election of Senators by direct vote.

  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 shall have the qualifications 
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State 
legislatures.


  c The 17th amendment to the Constitution of the United States was 
proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the 62d Congress 
on May 15, 1912, and was declared, in a proclamation by the Secretary of 
State dated May 31, 1913, to have been ratified by the legislatures of 
thirty-six of the forty-eight States. The dates of ratification were: 
Massachusetts, May 22, 1912; Arizona, June 3, 1912; Minnesota, June 10, 
1912; New York, January 15, 1913; Kansas, January 17, 1913; Oregon, 
January 23, 1913; North Carolina, January 25, 1913; California, January 
28, 1913; Michigan, January 28, 1913; Iowa, January 30, 1913; Montana, 
January 30, 1913; Idaho, January 31, 1913; West Virginia, February 4, 
1913; Colorado, February 5, 1913; Nevada, February 6, 1913; Texas, 
February 7, 1913; Washington, February 7, 1913; Wyoming, February 8, 
1913; Arkansas, February 11, 1913; Maine, February 11, 1913; Illinois, 
February 13, 1913; North Dakota, February 14, 1913; Wisconsin, February 
18, 1913; Indiana, February 19, 1913; New Hampshire, February 19, 1913; 
Vermont, February 19, 1913; South Dakota, February 19, 1913; Oklahoma, 
February 24, 1913; Ohio, February 25, 1913; Missouri, March 7, 1913; New 
Mexico, March 13, 1913; Nebraska, March 14, 1913; New Jersey, March 17, 
1913; Tennessee, April 1, 1913; Pennsylvania, April 2, 1913; 
Connecticut, April 8, 1913. Ratification was completed on April 8, 1913. 
The amendment was subsequently ratified by Louisiana, June 11, 1914. The 
amendment was rejected by Utah, February 26, 1913; Delaware, March 18, 
1913. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Rhode Island, and South Carolina did 
not complete action.
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[[Page 99]]
thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the 
vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
  When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the 
Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of 
election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any 
State may empower the executive 


  This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or 
term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the 
Constitution.



Sec. 237. Filling vacancies in the Senate.

  Senator  Rebecca 
L. Felton, appointed during the recess of the Senate on October 3, 1922, 
to fill a vacancy, was the first woman to sit in the Senate (VI, 156). 
Senator Walter F. George was elected to fill the vacancy on Novem-
ber 7, 1922. Mrs. Felton took the oath of office on November 21, 1922, 
and Senator George took the oath November 22, 1922 (VI, 156). Discussion 
as to the term of service of a Senator appointed by a State executive to 
fill a vacancy (VI, 156).







Sec. 238. Qualifications of electors.

  The  right of an 
elector to vote for a Senator is fundamentally derived from the United 
States Constitution (United States v. Aczel 219 F.2d 917 (1915)) and may 
not be denied in a discriminatory fashion (Chapman v. King, 154 F.2d 460 
(1946), cert. denied, 327 U.S. 800 (1946); Forssenius v. Harman, 235 F. 
Supp. 66 (1964), affd., 380 U.S. 529 (1965)).