Expiration Date?

For several months I have wondered whether there is an expiration date on a trustee-elect qualification to take an oath of office.

If a candidate for office wins an election but never takes the oath of office, is the office really vacant?

The situation in the Richland 2 School District is this.

Two candidates in the November 6, 2018 election were voted into office. However, they have never legally taken the oath of office. Two years have passed.

They have usurped public office by sitting on the board, and the Board and the District have allowed them to do that. 

They took an oath of office on November 13, 2018, but that was before they were eligible to do so. They took the oath illegally, and that's the same as never having taken it at all.

They became eligible to take the oath of office (legally) on December 4, 2018, but they have not done so.

What will the Richland County Elections Commission say? Has the period for taking the oath (legally) expired?

The November 10, 2020 Board meeting did not have a quorum, but the meeting was held anyway. One of these days the District is going to have to go all the way back to November 13, 2018 and fix all the mistakes that have occurred. The District should also recover all monies paid to, and for the benefit of, those two trustees-elect.