Candidates for Student Government positions began campaigning Tuesday morning, and while some complaints have been filed in the race for student body president, candidates said they are optimistic about the future.

Only two people have filed formal complaints so far, according to Elections Commission Chair Andrew Tucker, and they are from John Coggin, who is running for student body president, and his campaign manager Matt Evans.

Coggin, a senior in communication and interdisciplinary studies, and Evans, a junior in business and marketing education, said they believe Bobby Mills and his supporters took down Coggin’s campaign signs as they passed them out early Tuesday morning. In the complaint, Coggin said his campaign team was posting signs around campus beginning around 12 a.m., and that several of them were found destroyed or dismantled later that morning.

“It was not random,” Coggin said. “It was about 8 of my signs and they followed the path that Bobby took that night.”

In Evans’ complaint, he said he did not want to point fingers, but it did not seem possible for anyone else to have taken down the signs.

“Bobby was the only one out on campus that late,” Evans said in the complaint.

But Mills, a junior in political science and economics and student body president running for reelection, said he had not heard about the complaints Tuesday night.

“If I heard about any one of my campaign staff doing that, I would not allow them to continue to work on the campaign,” he said. “I had some of mine taken down, but there are some people that are going to do that.”

Coggin was disappointed by the actions against his signs because he said he cannot afford to replace them much more, he said.

“When it comes down to it, I don’t have the money to constantly put out new signs,” he said.

But he said it will not hurt the spirit of his campaign.

“I actually feel a lot more energized in getting my message out, but I don’t know how to do it,” he said. “I don’t have the financial support for that.”

Evans also mentioned in his complaint that he had heard Jay Dawkins, another candidate for student body president, had begun campaigning before the period actually began at 12 a.m.

And while Tucker agreed he had heard speculation also, Dawkins, a junior in civil engineering, said it was true.

According to Dawkins, some of his supporters helping to place signs around campus had exams Tuesday morning, and he wanted to allow them to get home to study. So, he allowed them to put out signs before the period began, he said.

“I don’t think the extra 30 minutes assigned around empty classrooms will make or break the election,” he said.

No one has filed a complaint about Dawkins, but he said he would be willing to discuss any issues with other candidates if necessary.

Dawkins said he has been happy with the first day of campaigning.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “There are a lot of committed students on campus that are ready to make change.”

Tucker, senior in political science, said that while he is optimistic about the race, he expects more complaints.

“[The two are] surely not going to be the last, but I’d like [them] to be the last,” he said.

The Elections Commission will likely have a hearing later this week to discuss the complaints against Mills’ campaign, and Tucker said he would like to set up a time for hearings every week to keep consistent with peoples’ schedules.