Commentary The 17th Amendment transferred elections for the U.S. Senate from the state legislatures to the general electorate. It thus changed legislative election to direct election. The amendment resulted from a decades-long public campaign to persuade Congress to formally propose it. Congress did so only after 29 or 30 state legislatures applied for an amendments convention to bypass Congress. Once Congress finally acted, the necessary three-fourths of the state legislatures ratified it in less than 11 months, completing the process on April 8, 1913. The amendment reads in part as follows: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years …. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.” With one exception, the measure rendered Senate elections subject to the same rules as …