While the three candidates for the Mars School Board who are members of the parent group that opposes unconventional drilling near the schools garnered the three lowest scores from the district’s Republicans, they were the among the top vote-getters on the Democratic ticket.

Eight candidates, including four incumbents and the interim superintendent, vied for five open spots on both the Democratic and Republican tickets in the November general election.

School board candidates in Pennsylvania, along with judges, can cross file and run as both Democrats and Republicans.

The candidates who will appear on the ballot in the November election are incumbents Bonnie Weaver, Rebecca Brown, Steve Boggs and John Kennedy, plus interim superintendent William Pettigrew and parent group members Amy Nassif and Patrice Tomcik.

Nassif and Tomcik earned the top and second spots on the Democratic side, respectively, at 427 and 421 votes.

Brown earned 419 Democratic votes, Weaver earned 417, and incumbent Boggs earned the fifth spot on November’s Democrat ticket at 403 votes.

Pettigrew, who served as superintendent for 24 years before retiring in June 2013, earned the fewest Democratic votes, at 349.

Also ousted from the general election’s Democratic ticket were Kennedy, at 362 votes, and newcomer Michelle Obid, at 384 votes. Obid is also a member of the Mars parent group.

Far more Republicans cast their ballots in the school board race, and the results were virtually the opposite of the Democratic results.

Nassif, Obid and Tomcik received the fewest votes of the eight candidates on the Republican ticket. Nassif earned just 8 percent of the votes at 696; Obid 7 percent at 608; and Tomcik 7.5 percent at 673 votes.

That means all four incumbents and Pettigrew will move on to run as Republicans in the November election.

Kennedy came up the big winner with 1,415 votes, or nearly 16 percent of the total Republican votes.

Brown came in second with 1,409, Weaver with 1,398, and Boggs with 1,361. Pettigrew earned 1,320 Republican votes.

That means Nassif, Tomcik and Obid will not appear on the Republican ticket in the fall.

The fifth vacant seat on the school board belonged to Cynthia Yeager, who filled Jane Roth’s seat when she resigned from the board in November. Yeager, a former school board member, chose not to run for the seat.

The Mars parent group has spent more than a year fighting the permitting of the five Marcellus Shale gas wells planned for the Bob and Kim Geyer farm on Denny Road. The wells would be just more than a half-mile from the Mars schools.

The parents say research shows that unconventional gas drilling operations so close to the school are dangerous and physically harmful to students, and have applied consistent pressure on the school board regarding the wells.

Nassif and Kennedy were not available for comment on Tuesday night.