Students and staff may be a little surprised by the sudden appearance of more paper on the walls of buildings around campus than usual.

It's official: ‘Campaign 2003’ has begun.

SGA hopefuls, armed with armloads of paper and tape, rushed into every academic building shortly after midnight Monday morning to begin posting flyers, posters, banners, and everything in between.

Election restrictions prevented campaigning to begin before Monday, March 31.

Students can expect to see many of these candidates and their closest backers to around the University Center as the time for the election draws near.

The UTM Student Government Association conducts elections every April for all 20 seats and the offices of President, Vice President, and Secretary General.

The number of senate seats varies from year to year depending on enrollment in each college.

Because of lackluster turnout of candidates, only the College of Business and Public Affairs has contested seats.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that one candidate, whose name is being withheld, has dropped out of the race for this College for failing to complete the mandatory constitution test.

General elections will be held in one week April 7 and 8, with runoff elections held on April 9 if necessary.

For the first time in recent history, a political party, simply called “Toga,” is supporting several senate candidates.

Toga will not be endorsing a candidate for any of the executive positions.

Computerized voting will be making its debut for the first time in an SGA general election. A similar system was first used by the SGA for the Homecoming Queen elections last fall.

Related story: Who will lead the SGA next year?