<P> The Senate freshman class of 1910 brought new hope to the reformers . Fourteen of the thirty newly elected senators had been elected through party primaries, which amounted to popular choice in their states . More than half of the states had some form of primary selection for the Senate . The Senate finally joined the House to submit the Seventeenth Amendment to the states for ratification, nearly ninety years after it first was presented to the Senate in 1826 . </P> <P> By 1912, 239 political parties at both the state and national level had pledged some form of direct election, and 33 states had introduced the use of direct primaries . Twenty - seven states had called for a constitutional convention on the subject, with 31 states needed to reach the threshold; Arizona and New Mexico each achieved statehood that year (bringing the total number of states to 48), and were expected to support the motion . Alabama and Wyoming, already states, had passed resolutions in favor of a convention without formally calling for one . </P> <P> In 1911, the House of Representatives passed House Joint Resolution 39 proposing a constitutional amendment for direct election of senators . The original resolution passed by the House contained the following clause: </P> <P> The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators shall be as prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof . </P>

When did senators get elected by popular vote