Michigan’s least transparent Secretary of State just took another court loss. A Michigan Court of Claims judge has permanently struck down Rule R 168.48, the Benson-issued requirement that forced local clerks to delete electronic poll book software and all associated files within seven days after an election is certified. The rule is invalid. Statewide. Starting now.
The decision comes in the case brought by Bridgewater Township Clerk Michelle McQueer. Federal law (52 U.S.C. § 20701) requires election officers to retain and preserve all records relating to voting in federal elections for 22 months. Willful destruction is a federal crime. Benson’s rule ordered the opposite: erase the electronic poll book files after seven days. McQueer asked which law controlled. She waited. She asked again. She got silence. So she sued.
This is the same case The Gateway Pundit first reported in August, when attorney Kevin Kijewski filed the verified complaint on McQueer’s behalf. The electronic poll books contain activity logs, timestamps, ballot transactions, and operator actions that are not fully captured in printed reports or the Qualified Voter File. Once deleted, that information is gone. McQueer argued the seven-day deletion rule collided with the federal 22-month retention requirement and put clerks at risk of criminal charges.
The Court of Claims denied the state’s motion to dismiss. The RNC and Michigan Republican Party later joined as intervening plaintiffs. McQueer secured a temporary restraining order protecting her August 4 electronic poll book file. She is the only Michigan clerk known to still possess one. Every other clerk’s August file is already gone.
In October, the U.S. Department of Justice took the rare step of filing a Statement of Interest in the state trial court. DOJ told the judge that electronic poll book data—including all metadata—are federal election records and that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is responsible for preserving them. Statements of Interest from the Justice Department in pure state-court cases are uncommon.
It is rarer still for DOJ to appear at the trial-court level rather than on appeal. Kijewski noted at the time that the government’s statement was written from the Secretary’s earlier position. The day before it was filed, the Secretary’s own data manager, Rachel Clone, swore in an affidavit that the list of voters each precinct used on Election Day is never copied into the state database because it would be “duplicative.” After the election, the state updates its file.
The original list poll workers saw is gone and can only be reconstructed later from a change log. McQueer’s reply was direct: a record that must be rebuilt after the fact has not been retained. A receipt that something was uploaded is not preservation. Reconstruction is not retention.
Benson’s office did not accept the temporary order. With an election weeks away, she filed an emergency application in the Court of Appeals seeking to undo the judge’s TRO and allow the files to be destroyed while the case was still pending. The application, in Kijewski’s words, “asks leave to destroy the evidence while the court decides whether destroying it is lawful.” She did not first ask the trial judge for a stay.
Michigan court rules require that step. The Department’s claimed harm was one memo telling clerks not to delete. The clerks’ exposure without the order was a federal statute that punishes willful failure to keep election records with up to a year in prison.
Now the final judgment is in. The Court of Claims has ruled that Rule 168.48 is invalid. When an administrative rule conflicts with a statute, the statute controls. The electronic poll book files—including the metadata—must be retained. The Court directed the Secretary to issue new instructions to all Michigan clerks requiring the poll book files to be transferred onto encrypted flash drives and securely stored for 22 months.
The State’s claimed burden? At most $100 per additional flash drive. The Court found that retaining the metadata is as crucial as retaining the data itself.
One township clerk asked a simple question after the state refused to answer it: when a state rule says delete, and a federal law says keep, which one does she follow? She waited. She sued. The law won. The poll books stay. Benson can appeal. Until a higher court says otherwise, Michigan clerks follow the federal statute, not the invalidated rule.
This is not Benson’s first court loss on election procedures. It is simply the latest. The record of how a federal election was run is not supposed to be destroyed a week after certification by anyone, in any party. One clerk stood up for that principle. The Court agreed. The files remain.
Kijewski tweeted:
BREAKING: WE WON. A MICHIGAN COURT JUST STRUCK DOWN MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE JOCELYN BENSON’S RULE ORDERING CLERKS TO DELETE ELECTION POLL BOOKS.
FINAL JUDGMENT. PERMANENT. STATEWIDE.
“Rule 168.48 is invalid.”
The rule: DELETE the poll book files after every election.
The law: KEEP election records 22 months.
The Court: “When an administrative rule conflicts with a statute, the statute controls.”
One township clerk asked which law to follow. Nobody answered. So Michelle McQueer sued.
82 days later, she won. For EVERY clerk in Michigan. Starting with TOMORROW’S election.
And the Court directed the Secretary to write NEW instructions for all 1,520 clerks that follow the ruling. The poll book files go on encrypted flash drives and stay there for 22 months.
Remember what we said in October? Reconstruction is not preservation.
The Court agreed: “Retaining the metadata is as crucial as retaining the data itself.”
READ THAT ONE TWICE.
The State’s big burden? The Court found it’s “at most, $100 per additional flash drive.”
Thank you to the RNC and Michigan Republican Party for joining me in the fight.
The State can appeal. Until a court ever says otherwise, the poll books stay.
ONE CLERK. TWO LAWS. THE LAW WON.
BREAKING: WE WON. A MICHIGAN COURT JUST STRUCK DOWN MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE JOCELYN BENSON’S RULE ORDERING CLERKS TO DELETE ELECTION POLL BOOKS.
FINAL JUDGMENT. PERMANENT. STATEWIDE.
“Rule 168.48 is invalid.”
The rule: DELETE the poll book files after every election.
The law: KEEP election records 22 months.
The Court: “When an administrative rule conflicts with a statute, the statute controls.”One township clerk asked which law to follow. Nobody answered. So Michelle McQueer sued.
82 days later, she won. For EVERY clerk in Michigan. Starting with TOMORROW’S election.
And the Court directed the Secretary to write NEW instructions for all 1,520 clerks that follow the ruling. The poll book files go on encrypted flash drives and stay there for 22 months.
Remember what we said in October? Reconstruction is not preservation.
The Court agreed: “Retaining the metadata is as crucial as retaining the data itself.”
READ THAT ONE TWICE.
The State’s big burden? The Court found it’s “at most, $100 per additional flash drive.”
Thank you to the RNC and Michigan Republican Party for joining me in the fight.
The State can appeal. Until a court ever says otherwise, the poll books stay.
ONE CLERK. TWO LAWS. THE LAW WON.
The Opinion: https://t.co/5RzUfmForW
McQueer v Benson, Michigan Court of Claims No. 26-000172-MZ
Let’s make Michigan safe, normal, and responsible again!
@MIGOP @Republicans @WhiteHouse @MI_Republicans @Th_Midwesterner @MINewsSource @stevegrubershow @MrJustinBarclay @JonathanTurley @RobGouveiaEsq @downi75 @Mike_Cox @MrAustinPredict @gatewaypundit @honestpollster @mifairelections @dcexaminer @MZHemingway @jsolomonReports @HarmeetKDhillon
— Kevin Kijewski (@KevinKijewski) November 2, 2026
Kevin Kijewski doesn’t get enough credit for taking on these tough election cases that other attorneys shy away from. He is a patriot and true hero for not only fighting for election integrity, but WINNING! Thank you, Kevin.
The post BREAKING: Judge Rules Against Crooked Sec of State Jocelyn Benson ONE Day Before Election…She Cannot Force Clerks to DELETE Election Files In Violation of Fed Law! appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.