A Problem with Picking Interim U.S. Senators

The procedure for how a vacancy in the United States Senate is filled differs from State to State. That is because Articles I, section III of the United States Constitution which was amended by the seventeenth amendment says

“When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided that the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”

So what happens is that the legislature of a particular State has the ability to give the power to the Governor to pick an interim Senator and also to issue a writ of election for when the election should take place. In most states the governor has the ability to pick an interim Senator. I believe this practice raises a big problem.

A governor is going to pick someone to fill the seat that can either help them in the future, or help their party in the future. The people will have the say when it comes to finishing out the term, or in the following election for the full six year term, but the interim Senator would have an advantage over challengers in the special election due to their status as incumbent. It is true that governors are elected, but in the future I will go into a non elected governor appointing someone to the Senate. It is also true that people elect Governors for much different reasons than Senators.

In the end the people should have the most power in deciding who represents them in Congress. Letting the State Legislature or the Governor decide how things will play out is not representative. I believe all states should have special elections to decide the nest person to hold the seat. They should be held quickly so the public can have the amount of representation given to them in the Constitution. I will look at some special elections coming up for vacant Senate seats.

Source: http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Vacancies.pdf