<P> Voters casting their ballots in polling places record their votes most commonly with optical scan voting machines or DRE voting machines . Voting machine selection is typically done through a state's local election jurisdiction including counties, cities, and townships . Many of these local jurisdictions have changed their voting equipment since 2000 due to the passage of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which allocated funds for the replacement of lever machine and punch card voting equipment . </P> <P> Since the 1980s many jurisdictions and voting locations have given out "I Voted" stickers to people casting ballots . In the state of Illinois it's a state law to have stickers available to voters after they have cast their ballots . State and local governments pay $30 million per year for the stickers that cost about one cent each . </P> <P> The United States has a presidential system of government, which means that the executive and legislature are elected separately . Article One of the United States Constitution requires that any election for the U.S. President must occur on a single day throughout the country; elections for Congressional offices, however, can be held at different times . Congressional and presidential elections take place simultaneously every four years, and the intervening Congressional elections, which take place every two years, are called Midterm elections . </P> <P> The constitution states that members of the United States House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and be a (legal) inhabitant of the state they represent . Senators must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least nine years, and be a (legal) inhabitant of the state they represent . The President must be at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen of the United States and a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years . It is the responsibility of state legislatures to regulate the qualifications for a candidate appearing on a ballot paper, although in order to get onto the ballot, a candidate must often collect a legally defined number of signatures . </P>

When do we vote in the united states for federal elections