<P> At one end of the chamber of the Senate is a dais from which the presiding officer presides . The lower tier of the dais is used by clerks and other officials . One hundred desks are arranged in the chamber in a semicircular pattern and are divided by a wide central aisle . The Democratic Party traditionally sits to the presiding officer's right, and the Republican Party traditionally sits to the presiding officer's left, regardless of which party has a majority of seats . In this respect, the Senate differs from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and other parliamentary bodies in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere . </P> <P> Each senator chooses a desk based on seniority within the party . By custom, the leader of each party sits in the front row along the center aisle . Forty - eight of the desks date back to 1819, when the Senate chamber was reconstructed after the original contents were destroyed in the 1812 Burning of Washington . Further desks of similar design were added as new states entered the Union . It is a tradition that each senator who uses a desk inscribes their name on the inside of the desk's drawer . </P> <P> Except for the President of the Senate, the Senate elects its own officers, who maintain order and decorum, manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate, and interpret the Senate's rules, practices and precedents . Many non-member officers are also hired to run various day - to - day functions of the Senate . </P> <P> Under the Constitution, the vice president serves as President of the Senate . He or she may vote in the Senate (ex officio, for he or she is not an elected member of the Senate) in the case of a tie, but is not required to . For much of the nation's history the task of presiding over Senate sessions was one of the vice president's principal duties (the other being to receive from the states the tally of electoral ballots cast for president and vice president and to open the certificates "in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives," so that the total votes could be counted). Since the 1950s, vice presidents have presided over few Senate debates . Instead, they have usually presided only on ceremonial occasions, such as swearing in new senators, joint sessions, or at times to announce the result of significant legislation or nomination, or when a tie vote on an important issue is anticipated . </P>

How many u.s. senators are elected by each state