By Kristine Christlieb
Less than 24 hours after a Michigan township clerk sued over a state rule requiring the deletion of electronic poll book records, the Michigan Court of Claims ordered those records preserved.
Michelle McQueer, Clerk of Bridgewater Township in Washtenaw County, filed a verified complaint on August 12 against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Director of Elections Jonathan Brater, and the Michigan Department of State, Case No. 2026-000172-MZ, in the Michigan Court of Claims. The suit challenges Mich. Admin. Code R 168.48, effective October 23, 2025, which orders the deletion of electronic poll book software and associated files within seven days of an election’s certification.
The problem, according to the complaint: federal law points the other way. 52 U.S.C. § 20701 requires election officers to retain and preserve records relating to acts of voting in federal elections for 22 months when federal offices are on the ballot — as they were on August 4. So, according to Federal law, the records at issue must be kept into June 2028, not deleted within a week of certification.
The fact sheet accompanying the filing lays out the bind this creates for every clerk asked to comply with both commands. Destroy the records on the state’s schedule, and willful destruction of public records carries up to two years under MCL 750.491, on top of the up-to-one-year federal exposure under 52 U.S.C. § 20701 for willful failure to retain them. Keep the records instead, and refusing to carry out the rule’s own deletion mandate is a misdemeanor carrying up to ninety days under MCL 168.931(1)(g). As the complaint puts it, every path aims at the clerk personally.
According to the complaint, McQueer wrote to Benson and Brater on July 6 asking how she could obey both commands and requesting a declaratory ruling and a stay. Thirty-seven days passed without a response. With certification of the August 4 primary due and the seven-day deletion clock set to follow, she asked the court instead.
“My job is to follow the law and serve the citizens of my township,” McQueer said. “I am told to do two things, I cannot do both. I asked the state and received no reply, so I am asking a court for relief. I want this right before November.”
“A clerk should never have to choose which law to break,” said Kevin Kijewski, counsel for the clerk. “Federal law says keep these records for twenty-two months; willful failure risks up to a year in prison. The state’s rule says destroy them in seven days, and willfully destroying public records carries up to two years in Michigan. Even keeping them to stay safe is a crime: refusing to carry out the rule’s deletion means up to ninety days. She asked the rule’s own authors and got thirty-seven days of silence. So we are asking a judge, while the records still exist, before Michigan runs a general election under it.”
The complaint seeks declaratory relief and preservation of the records — no money damages. But it also raises a separate, quieter problem with how the Secretary of State’s Rule 168.48 came into being. According to the complaint, the public notice for the rule’s July 15, 2025, hearing described it only as establishing a “secure live connection to the voter file” — it did not mention deletion.
No member of the public attended that hearing, and the two written comments the state received addressed the connection, not the deletion mandate. The rule that emerged from that process now governs every city and township clerk’s handling of election records — 281 city clerks and 1,240 township clerks, by the Secretary of State’s own published count, the most decentralized election administration system in the country.
The court moved fast.
By the following morning, the Court of Claims had entered an order directing the defendants to preserve “the electronic pollbook software and associated files” in a secure manner pending resolution of the case, and placed the matter on an expedited schedule, with the state’s response due August 20.
Patrice Johnson, Chair and Co-Founder of the Michigan Fair Elections Institute, welcomed the ruling:
“We have been shouting about this issue from the rooftops since last September and are delighted that a courageous township clerk and brilliant attorney have taken on this case. Remarkable, and well founded, success!”
The state’s response is due to the Court of Claims on August 20. MFEI will continue to track the case as it proceeds.
—————
Kristine Christlieb is Michigan Fair Elections Institute News and Commentary editor.
Less than 24 hours after a Michigan township clerk sued over a state rule requiring the deletion of electronic poll book records, the Michigan Court of Claims ordered those records preserved.
Michelle McQueer, Clerk of Bridgewater Township in Washtenaw County, filed a verified complaint on August 12 against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Director of Elections Jonathan Brater, and the Michigan Department of State, Case No. 2026-000172-MZ, in the Michigan Court of Claims. The suit challenges Mich. Admin. Code R 168.48, effective October 23, 2025, which orders the deletion of electronic poll book software and associated files within seven days of an election’s certification.
The problem, according to the complaint: federal law points the other way. 52 U.S.C. § 20701 requires election officers to retain and preserve records relating to acts of voting in federal elections for 22 months when federal offices are on the ballot — as they were on August 4. So, according to Federal law, the records at issue must be kept into June 2028, not deleted within a week of certification.
The fact sheet accompanying the filing lays out the bind this creates for every clerk asked to comply with both commands. Destroy the records on the state’s schedule, and willful destruction of public records carries up to two years under MCL 750.491, on top of the up-to-one-year federal exposure under 52 U.S.C. § 20701 for willful failure to retain them. Keep the records instead, and refusing to carry out the rule’s own deletion mandate is a misdemeanor carrying up to ninety days under MCL 168.931(1)(g). As the complaint puts it, every path aims at the clerk personally.
According to the complaint, McQueer wrote to Benson and Brater on July 6 asking how she could obey both commands and requesting a declaratory ruling and a stay. Thirty-seven days passed without a response. With certification of the August 4 primary due and the seven-day deletion clock set to follow, she asked the court instead.
“My job is to follow the law and serve the citizens of my township,” McQueer said. “I am told to do two things, I cannot do both. I asked the state and received no reply, so I am asking a court for relief. I want this right before November.”
“A clerk should never have to choose which law to break,” said Kevin Kijewski, counsel for the clerk. “Federal law says keep these records for twenty-two months; willful failure risks up to a year in prison. The state’s rule says destroy them in seven days, and willfully destroying public records carries up to two years in Michigan. Even keeping them to stay safe is a crime: refusing to carry out the rule’s deletion means up to ninety days. She asked the rule’s own authors and got thirty-seven days of silence. So we are asking a judge, while the records still exist, before Michigan runs a general election under it.”
The complaint seeks declaratory relief and preservation of the records — no money damages. But it also raises a separate, quieter problem with how the Secretary of State’s Rule 168.48 came into being. According to the complaint, the public notice for the rule’s July 15, 2025, hearing described it only as establishing a “secure live connection to the voter file” — it did not mention deletion.
No member of the public attended that hearing, and the two written comments the state received addressed the connection, not the deletion mandate. The rule that emerged from that process now governs every city and township clerk’s handling of election records — 281 city clerks and 1,240 township clerks, by the Secretary of State’s own published count, the most decentralized election administration system in the country.
The court moved fast.
By the following morning, the Court of Claims had entered an order directing the defendants to preserve “the electronic pollbook software and associated files” in a secure manner pending resolution of the case, and placed the matter on an expedited schedule, with the state’s response due August 20.
Patrice Johnson, Chair and Co-Founder of the Michigan Fair Elections Institute, welcomed the ruling:
“We have been shouting about this issue from the rooftops since last September and are delighted that a courageous township clerk and brilliant attorney have taken on this case. Remarkable, and well founded, success!”
The state’s response is due to the Court of Claims on August 20. MFEI will continue to track the case as it proceeds.
—————
Kristine Christlieb is Michigan Fair Elections Institute News and Commentary editor.
