The RNC filed an amicus brief last week in a lawsuit brought by Bridgewater Township Clerk Michelle McQueer against Benson, Elections Director Jonathan Brater, and the Michigan Department of State. At the center of the dispute is a fairly dramatic difference in timelines: seven days versus 22 months.

Delete After Seven Days

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Michigan Administrative Rule 168.48, effective October 23, 2025, says clerks must delete electronic pollbook software and related files from their devices within seven days after an election is canvassed and certified. The files must be kept longer if a recount is still underway, a post-election audit has been scheduled, or a court or the secretary of state has blocked deletion. Even after those seven days, the files still cannot be deleted until the Bureau of Elections or the county clerk issues a release-of-security memorandum for that election. If a precinct is chosen for an audit, the files must be deleted within seven days after the audit ends.

Federal law, however, requires election officers to preserve for 22 months records and papers relating to voting in elections involving federal candidates. The RNC argues electronic pollbook files fall squarely within that requirement.

Why Delete Them So Soon?

Benson’s publicly stated explanation doesn’t offer much detail about the seven-day provision itself. When the Department of State began the rulemaking process in March 2025, it said the purpose of the rules was to “clarify rules regarding the electronic pollbook.”

The RNC says Benson was warned about the potential conflict before the rule took effect. State Rep. Rachelle Smit raised the 22-month federal requirement while the rule was being considered and asked how clerks could comply with both mandates. The RNC says it found no public response from Benson to that question and that the proposed deletion language remained unchanged.

Judge Says Keep the Records – For Now

McQueer ultimately went to court after asking Benson and Brater in July how she should comply with what she argued were conflicting state and federal requirements. According to her lawsuit, she received no response for more than a month.

The Court of Claims quickly stepped in, with Judge Michael J. Riordan ordering the electronic pollbook software and associated files preserved while the case proceeds and putting the lawsuit on an expedited schedule. The order temporarily takes the seven-day deletion deadline off the table for the records at issue in McQueer’s case, and with the RNC now joining the fight, the dispute over how long those election records must be kept is drawing broader attention.

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“You can’t claim to support election transparency while ordering election records destroyed,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said. “Benson’s rule wipes out records federal law requires to be preserved, and the RNC is fighting to make sure critical election data isn’t erased from public view.”