<P> This so - called "race rider" clause would have strengthened the powers of states over senatorial elections and to weakened those of Congress by overriding Congress's power to override state laws affecting the manner of senatorial elections . </P> <P> Since the turn of the century, most blacks in the South, and many poor whites, had been disenfranchised by state legislatures passing constitutions with provisions that were discriminatory in practice . This meant that their millions of population had no political representation . Most of the South had one - party states . When the resolution came before the Senate, a substitute resolution, one without the rider, was proposed by Joseph L. Bristow of Kansas . It was adopted by a vote of 64 to 24, with 4 not voting . Nearly a year later, the House accepted the change . The conference report that would become the Seventeenth Amendment was approved by the Senate 42 to 36 on April 12, 1912, and by the House 238 to 39, with 110 not voting on May 13, 1912 . </P> <P> Having been passed by Congress, the amendment was sent to the states for ratification and was ratified by: </P> <Ol> <Li> Massachusetts--May 22, 1912 </Li> <Li> Arizona--June 3, 1912 </Li> <Li> Minnesota--June 10, 1912 </Li> <Li> New York--January 15, 1913 </Li> <Li> Kansas--January 17, 1913 </Li> <Li> Oregon--January 23, 1913 </Li> <Li> North Carolina--January 25, 1913 </Li> <Li> California--January 28, 1913 </Li> <Li> Michigan--January 28, 1913 </Li> <Li> Iowa--January 30, 1913 </Li> <Li> Montana--January 30, 1913 </Li> <Li> Idaho--January 31, 1913 </Li> <Li> West Virginia--February 4, 1913 </Li> <Li> Colorado--February 5, 1913 </Li> <Li> Nevada--February 6, 1913 </Li> <Li> Texas--February 7, 1913 </Li> <Li> Washington--February 7, 1913 </Li> <Li> Wyoming--February 8, 1913 </Li> <Li> Arkansas--February 11, 1913 </Li> <Li> Maine--February 11, 1913 </Li> <Li> Illinois--February 13, 1913 </Li> <Li> North Dakota--February 14, 1913 </Li> <Li> Wisconsin--February 18, 1913 </Li> <Li> Indiana--February 19, 1913 </Li> <Li> New Hampshire--February 19, 1913 </Li> <Li> Vermont--February 19, 1913 </Li> <Li> South Dakota--February 19, 1913 </Li> <Li> Oklahoma--February 24, 1913 </Li> <Li> Ohio--February 25, 1913 </Li> <Li> Missouri--March 7, 1913 </Li> <Li> New Mexico--March 13, 1913 </Li> <Li> Nebraska--March 14, 1913 </Li> <Li> New Jersey--March 17, 1913 </Li> <Li> Tennessee--April 1, 1913 </Li> <Li> Pennsylvania--April 2, 1913 </Li> <Li> Connecticut--April 8, 1913 With 36 states having ratified the Seventeenth Amendment, it was certified by Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan on May 31, 1913, as part of the Constitution . The amendment has subsequently been ratified by: </Li> <Li> Louisiana--June 11, 1914 </Li> <Li> Alabama--April 11, 2002 </Li> <Li> Delaware--July 1, 2010 (After rejecting the amendment on March 18, 1913) </Li> <Li> Maryland--April 1, 2012 </Li> <Li> Rhode Island--June 20, 2014 </Li> </Ol>

Which action was necessary to change from the indirect to the direct election of us senators