direct election of senators

     The United States Constitution  specifies, in the XVII Amendment, that each state shall have 2 Senators, elected by the people. Before the XVII Amendment was ratified, in 1913, Senators were not elected by the people. They were elected by the legislature of each state. The XVII Amendment provided  for the direct election of Senators by the people--anyone who can vote for a candidate for the state legislature, can vote for a candidate for the U.S. Senate. We don't need to be older, for instance, to vote in an election for the U.S. Senate in Washington. At the time this amendment was passed, it still meant males only, but the XIX Amendment, in 1920,  added women to the Constitution.