Michelle McQueer wanted an answer before she deleted election files. Michigan’s secretary of state had a rule requiring deletion of electronic pollbook software and associated files after certification. Federal law required election records preserved for 22 months. The Bridgwater Township clerk challenged the rule, and now a judge has ordered the files saved statewide.
McQueer’s lawsuit names Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Elections Director Jonathan Brater, and the Michigan Department of State. What began as one clerk’s challenge now affects how officials must handle electronic pollbooks from the November 3 general election.
Election administration shouldn’t leave local officials wondering whether following a state directive could put them at odds with federal law. They have enough work running polling places without needing a lawsuit to clarify which records they may keep.
The disputed rule, effective Oct. 23, 2025, requires deletion by the seventh day following final canvass and certification, subject to exceptions for recounts, audits, and orders staying deletion. Officials also must wait for the applicable security release. An electronic pollbook processes voters and generates reports; it doesn’t count candidate choices.
Federal law requires election officers to retain records relating to registration and other acts necessary to voting for 22 months after a federal election. McQueer’s challenge raises the question of how that requirement applies to Michigan’s electronic pollbook files.
Michigan argues the necessary information survives elsewhere. Its defense points to uploads into the Qualified Voter File and printed reports retained on paper. The state maintains that those records preserve the information needed to reconstruct a precinct’s Election Day activity.
From Legal News:
The state replied to the order arguing the rule does not conflict with federal law, and that “all electronic information that could be considered a record subject to these statutes is uploaded to the qualified voter file and preserved.” The states also said there is “only one record that is not uploaded; it is instead printed from the (poll books) and retained as a paper record.”
The state argued McQueer is misinterpreting the law, which they say only applies to papers or records an election official receives from an external source, not self-created software and databases like the Qualified Voter File or poll books.
The information within the Electronic Poll Books, or EPBs, is still retained as directed under federal law, the state argued.
Voters should understand that defense. Benson’s policy doesn’t mean every election record disappears, and claiming otherwise would hand her an easy rebuttal while obscuring the actual dispute: whether the state may delete the electronic files when other records remain.
The practical question still demands an answer. If officials can securely preserve the files while a court determines their legal status, why accept deletion before that determination? Saving the source material lets both sides examine what exists, while deletion would foreclose that option.
On October 27, Court of Claims Judge Michael Riordan ordered officials statewide to retain November’s electronic pollbooks. They must transfer the files from precinct laptops to encrypted flash drives and store them securely until further court order. He also blocked enforcement of the challenged rule while the case continues.
Riordan had previously protected McQueer’s August primary files. The Republican National Committee and Michigan Republican Party later intervened. His statewide order explains that the court doesn’t expect to resolve the case before the general election.
Benson’s office emphasizes that the court hasn’t decided whether the policy conflicts with state or federal law. That is correct.
The temporary order preserves records while the legal argument proceeds; it establishes neither fraud nor a final finding against her.
Republicans can welcome the result without promising revelations the files haven’t supplied. Their strongest case is straightforward: preserve the evidence, protect sensitive information, and let the court resolve the competing interpretations.
Benson is also asking Michigan voters to make her governor. Her administration’s explanation of its records policy is therefore a legitimate subject for scrutiny. A candidate seeking greater authority should expect questions about how she exercises the authority she already holds.
McQueer challenged an instruction she believed conflicted with her obligations. For now, the judge has ensured that Michigan’s electronic pollbooks will remain available while he decides.
Whatever tomorrow’s results bring, keeping those records is a sound place to start.