Tonight at 7 p.m. the Board of Elections will hold a mandatory meeting for all students who wish to declare candidacy for student body president.

Students are not allowed to announce their intent to run for office until this meeting or to run without having attended, making tonight the official kick-off to the student body election season.

Follow us on Twitter @reesenews for updates on the race.

To appear on the ballot, candidates must collect 1,250 unique signatures, meaning that any name that appears on more than one petition will be voided. This year, candidates will be allowed to collect signatures online. To sign an online petition students will simply have to login with their ONYEN and password.

Even though candidates will be collecting signatures online, expect to see volunteers throughout campus and remember that each student can online sign one petition.

The Daily Tar Heel reported yesterday that students are hoping for a less dramatic 2012 Student Body President election than last year, when candidates exchanged frequent jabs and threatened lawsuits.