Challenges to the nomination petitions of two write-in candidates for the Mars Area School District Board of Directors claim they didn’t filed their financial interests statements with the district.

James Powers, of Middlesex Township, filed petitions July 11 in Common Pleas Court seeking to set aside the nomination petitions of Michael Bordt and Joseph Joswiak, two of three candidates who won Democratic Party nominations through write-in campaigns in the May 20 primary.

Both petitions claim neither Bordt nor Joswiak filed a statement of financial interests with the district as required by the Pennsylvania Public Official and Employee Ethics Act.

Bordt and Joswiak filed statements of financial interests with the Butler County Election Bureau on June 9, along with forms accepting their write-in nominations. But Bordt said they didn’t file them with the district.

“We’re running as a team,” Bordt said about he and Joswiak.

He said they plan to file the paperwork Monday or Tuesday with the district.

Bordt is an Adams Township police officer and baseball coach for the Mars Area School District. He said he worked in district schools as a police officer and Joswiak is a retired teacher.

“We would bring an inside kind of view of things that need to be changed,” Bordt said.

He said neither he nor Joswiak have run for elected office before, but will fight to remain on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election.

Bordt, Joswiak and Robert Vigue, whose petition was not challenged, are running against two Republican incumbents and two other Republican candidates for four four-year terms on the school board. The incumbents are Justin Miller and Matthew Duff and the other Republican candidates are Madelynn Marburger Barkley and Amanda Salkeld.

Powers, who is not a board member, could not be reached for comment.