<P> The Senate has 100 members , elected for a six - year term in dual - seat constituencies ( 2 from each state ) , with one - third being renewed every two years . The group of the Senate seats that is up for election during a given year is known as a `` class '' ; the three classes are staggered so that only one of the three groups is renewed every two years . Until the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913 , States chose how to elect Senators , and they were often elected by state legislatures , not the electorate of states . </P>
<P> The Senate has 100 members , elected for a six - year term in dual - seat constituencies ( 2 from each state ) , with one - third being renewed every two years . The group of the Senate seats that is up for election during a given year is known as a `` class '' ; the three classes are staggered so that only one of the three groups is renewed every two years . Until the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913 , States chose how to elect Senators , and they were often elected by state legislatures , not the electorate of states . </P>
who decides when where and how elections for senators and reps will be held
who decides when where and how elections for senators and reps will be held
States
States