What is the importance of the 17th Amendment?
Herein, what is the 17th Amendment in simple terms?
What the 17th Amendment Means. Essentially, the 17th Amendment gives voters the power to directly elect their senators. It also states that the U.S. Senate includes two senators from each state, and that each senator has one vote in the Senate. Senators are elected for six-year terms.
Secondly, how is the 17th Amendment used today?
The 17th Amendment serves as a check on partisan chicanery by removing any chance of gerrymandering influencing the election (state legislative districts may be—and regularly are—drawn with partisan motives, which would carry over if legislators still appointed senators), and by ensuring that state legislatures can't
This amendment protects a citizen's rights by allowing them to elect their own senators as opposed to the legislature electing them, as was the original law.