Among the most persuasive arguments offered for changing the way senators were chosen was that state legislatures were occasionally in disarray over the selection of senators, unable or unwilling to find enough votes to elect a senator, which occurred during the nineteenth century. Thus, states were denied full representation in the Senate from time to time. For example, one of Delaware’s Senate seats was unoccupied from March 1899 to March 1903. Moreover, the Delaware legislature failed to select any senators from 1901 to 1903.
