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With the death of Minnesota senator Paul Wellstone just 11 days before Election Day, a lot of attention focused on the Democratic Party's scramble to fill the late senator's place on the ballot. But regardless of the election outcome, Wellstone's seat in the Senate had to be filled between his death and the swearing-in of the newly elected senator. According to the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, it's the responsibility of the state's governor and legislature to fill the vacant seat. This amendment is best known for giving the voting public the power to directly elect its senators. But the second
clause of the amendment deals with replacing a senator if she or he dies in office, resigns before the next election, or is expelled. The clause to the amendment reads as follows: When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each 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. In the case of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, Minnesota Governor Jesse
Ventura appointed the Independence Party's Dean Barkley to temporarily fill the seat. Under Minnesota law, Barkley can fill the seat until the winner of the most recent election, Republican Norm Coleman, is certified. A state's legislature empowers its governor to appoint a replacement for the senator until a special election can take place. The only exception seems to be the state of Arizona, which does not allow temporary appointments at all. In Arizona,
an election is the only way to fill any Congressional vacancy.
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