House Bill 369: Special Election for US Senate Vacancies Act [UPDATE: CT Passed it!]

President Obama's recent election and cabinet appointments have caused 4 vacancies in the US Senate: Illinois (Sen. Obama), Delaware (Sen. Biden), Colorado (Sen. Salazar) and New York (Sen. Clinton). There are very strong rumors that New Hampshire's Sen. Judd Gregg will be the fifth. In each case, the vacancy has already been filled or will be filled by an appointment of that state's Governor.

As the situation in Illinois has vividly demonstrated, this appointment process can be rife with inside politics, back-room deals and allegedly very serious corruption. But even in the other states, the process has been opaque and most importantly has completely shut-out average voters from choosing their US Senators.

For this reason, I have introduced House Bill #369: Special Elections for US Senate Vacancies Act. This bill would mandate that if a US Senate Vacancy were to arise in Maryland, the Governor would call a special election so that people can decide who represents them in the US Senate. The bill goes into effect in January 2015, after current Governor O'Malley has certainly left office. This was done so as not to seem to impugn the the integrity of our current Governor.

Numerous national newspapers have editorialized strongly in favor of this exact concept. Here is a sampling:

• Chicago Tribune: Call An Election (1/5/2009)
• Washington Post: How Not to Pick a Senator (1/24/2009)
• Washington Post: A Better Choice (2/1/2009)
• New York Times: How to Fill a Senate Seat (2/4/2009)
• Washington Post: Another Seat Warmer (2/6/2009)
  
• Washington Post: Power to the People (3/20/2009)
• Washington Post: More Quitters (R-Fla., R-Tex.) (8/11/2009)

You can read the actual text of the bill itself here.

UPDATE 6/26/2009: Connecticut just passed a similar bill into law!