How often do we vote a senator in?

Answer 1

Senators serve terms of six years each; the terms are staggered so that approximately one-third of the seats are up for election every two years. This was achieved by dividing the senators of the 1st Congress into thirds, where the terms of one third expired after two years, the terms of another third expired after four, and the terms of the last third expired after six years. This arrangement is also implemented following the admission of new states into the union. The staggering of the terms is arranged to ensure that both seats from a given state are never contested in the same general election (except when a mid-term vacancy is being filled). As a result of the staggering of terms, every senator (and the seat he or she occupies) is said to belong to one of three classes, where each class corresponds to the time frame of the senator's term of office. Current senators whose terms will expire in January 2011 belong to Class III, except those who were appointed to finish unexpired terms and will therefore face a special election.