Charleston, July 8 (RHC)-- The South Carolina Senate has voted to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state Capitol. The vote was 37 to 3, far more than the two-thirds majority needed to advance the bill.

The vote came 19 days after nine African-American worshipers, including South Carolina state Senator Rev. Clementa Pinckney, were gunned down in a Charleston church by a racist suspect who embraced the Confederate flag.

The bill to remove the flag still needs to pass a vote in the state House. Among the three senators who voted against removing the flag was state Senator Lee Bright, who sought an amendment to put the flag's fate to a popular vote.