Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

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The Seventeenth Amendment (Amendment XVII) to the United States Constitution established the direct election of United States senators in each state. The amendment supersedes Article I, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were appointed by state legislatures. It also alters the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing for state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held. The amendment was proposed by the 62nd Congress in 1912 and became part of the Constitution upon ratification by three quarters (36) of the state legislatures on April 8, 1913. Sitting senators were not affected until their existing terms expired. The transition began with two special elections in Georgia and in Maryland, then in earnest with the November 1914 election; it was complete on March 4, 1919, when the senators chosen in the November 1918 election took office.

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