LANSING, Michigan — A Michigan Court of Claims judge has ordered the state's election chief to make sure the electronic record of who voted on November 3 is not erased. In an order issued on Tuesday, October 27, Judge Michael Riordan directed Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to instruct every local election official in Michigan to retain the electronic pollbooks (EPBs) from the November 3 general election until further order of the court — transferring the data from precinct laptops onto encrypted flash drives and then securely storing those drives.

Source: Democracy Docket, reporting the Court of Claims order

The order reverses the judge's own position from earlier this month, when he declined to block a state rule requiring local officials to destroy the pollbook records shortly after an election is certified. Riordan wrote that the court does not anticipate a full resolution of the case before the general election, and stressed that Tuesday's order is “not a final order resolving all issues in this matter.”

A seven-day deletion rule meets a 22-month federal law

At the centre of the case is an administrative rule filed by Benson's department in October 2025. Under the rule, pollbook data used by every local election official “must be deleted from all devices by the seventh day following the final canvass and certification of the election.” The only exceptions are when there is a petition for a recount or a scheduled post-election audit.

Source: Democracy Docket

Bridgewater Township Clerk Michelle McQueer sued Benson in August, arguing that the deletion rule conflicts with federal law. Her verified complaint, filed on August 12 in the Michigan Court of Claims as Case No. 2026-000172-MZ against Benson, Director of Elections Jonathan Brater and the Michigan Department of State, points to 52 U.S.C. § 20701, which requires election officers to retain and preserve records relating to voting in federal elections for 22 months. For Michigan's August 4 election, that federal clock would run into June 2028 — not one week after certification.

Source: Legal News (Detroit)

7 daysState rule deadline to delete pollbook data after certification
22 monthsFederal retention period under 52 U.S.C. § 20701
2026-000172-MZMichigan Court of Claims case number
Nov. 3General election whose pollbooks must now be preserved

McQueer's complaint says local clerks are caught personally between the two commands. According to the fact sheet filed with the case, willful destruction of public records carries up to two years under Michigan law (MCL 750.491), on top of up to one year of federal exposure under 52 U.S.C. § 20701 for willfully failing to retain the records — while refusing to carry out the state rule's deletion mandate is itself a misdemeanour carrying up to ninety days under MCL 168.931(1)(g). Those penalty figures are the complaint's account of the law, and the underlying dispute is still being litigated.

Source: Legal News (Detroit), summarising the complaint

The clerk's dilemma, in her lawyer's words

“Obey the rule and she risks federal penalties; obey the statute and she violates the rule.” — Kevin Kijewski, attorney for Clerk Michelle McQueer, as reported by The Midwesterner and republished by Hillsdale Press.

How the case reached this point

The timeline matters. Riordan first granted McQueer's request to pause the state rule for the August primary election, then later denied her request to block the rule for the general election, writing: “Should this matter remain pending following the general election, the Court will revisit this matter.” This month, the Republican National Committee and the Michigan GOP intervened in the lawsuit, and the U.S. Department of Justice made the rare move of filing a statement of interest in the case. After the RNC intervened, Riordan issued the new temporary restraining order pausing the pollbook rule for the November 3 election.

Source: Democracy Docket

Michigan clerks have reason to take the personal risk seriously. Five years ago, Michigan officials stripped an elected Hillsdale County clerk, Stephanie Scott, of her election duties after she challenged the state's instructions, and later pursued felony charges against her over the handling of election data — the history that hangs over McQueer's decision to sue rather than quietly delete or quietly keep the records.

Source: Hillsdale Press / The Current GA via Georgia Recorder reporting

What happens next

Practically, the order means the November 3 pollbooks — the electronic logs that record each check-in at the polls, including actions taken by poll workers — must be copied to encrypted flash drives and held until the court says otherwise. The case itself continues after the election, and there is still no final ruling on whether the state deletion rule violates federal law. Benson, a Democrat, is also running for governor in this election, which is why the fight over her rule is drawing national attention, interventions by both parties and the Justice Department, and close scrutiny from election-integrity activists on all sides.

For Michigan's newest citizens — including Punjabi-diaspora voters casting ballots in a U.S. federal election for the first time — the case is not abstract. The pollbook is the electronic trail that shows a voter checked in and was given a ballot. Whether that trail survives for 22 months or is deleted in seven days decides what evidence would exist if a result were ever recounted, audited or challenged in court.