The Senate Loses its Cool: The Undemocratic Ways States Fill Senate Vacancies

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Rob Richie
Executive Director
Fair Vote

Facts in the Spotlight

• Number of U.S. Senators appointed without election since 1913: 179
• Number of U.S. House members ever to serve without election: 0
• Number of states that always fill U.S. Senate vacancies by election: 3
• Number of states that always fill U.S. House vacancies by election: 50

Democracy is all the rage: In the grand scheme of history, allowing voters to directly elect U.S. Senators is a new, hip concept. Before the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures, leaving only members of the House serving at the will of actual voters. Perennial presidential candidate Alan Keyes may oppose the amendment, but it would be something of a shock if this particular electoral fad - and important advance for democracy - did not endure.

That’s why it’s curious that we have so little debate about extending this right of election when it comes to filling Senate vacancies. Even today, only three states allow voters to directly fill Senate vacancies. The remaining forty-seven states have politicians instead of voters appoint Senate replacements.

Contradictions in coolness: Why should it be convention to augment a fully democratic process with a totally undemocratic one? Taking a hot new trend like the popular election of senators and attaching to it an utterly antiquated proviso such as appointments to fill vacancies is akin to buying an iPod and wondering why it won't play 8-track tapes. They are contradictions and can make one look horribly out of touch.

Take the perverse situation the nation encountered earlier this year, when Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) was hospitalized. The expectation was that with a Republican governor in South Dakota, a Republican would be appointed to fill the seat – reversing control of the Senate just weeks after an election in which voters handed the chamber to the Democrats. There are numerous states where governors of one party could replace vacancies created by the death or departure of a senator of the opposing party – a reality that simply doesn't make sense from a post-17th amendment perspective.