Trustee Sam Fant likes to keep implying that most of the Manteca Unified School District board has “never been tested in an election.”

He did it again Tuesday when he said that only he and Ashley Drain had faced the rigors of an election.

That’s not true by a long shot.

Nancy Teicheira has been through several fairly brutal elections where she was aggressively challenged as has Evelyn Moore.

Michael Seeyle also faced challengers just like Fant did over two years ago.

As for Drain, she was on the ballot but a case can be made the campaigning was next to nothing given what Teicheria, Moore, Fant, and Seeyle have gone through.

The only persons on the board who haven’t faced an opponent at the ballot box are Deborah Romero and Stephen Schluer who was appointed Tuesday to replace Alexander Bronson who had resigned.

And let’s make it clear: Not having a challenger doesn’t dilute a board member’s legitimacy. While it is true no one may have been interested in running against Romero whether it was apathy or they were satisfied with the way things were going, it is also true that no one may have challenged her because they thought she’d do a fine job representing the interests of their area.