BREAKING: Judge Riordan, in Writing: Benson's Risk Is No Joke

By Kristine Christlieb, Director, MFEI/PIME News Division

September 22, 2026

During oral argument on Wednesday, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Michael Riordan warned the State's own defense lawyer her bosses could be prosecuted for an administrative rule that requires clerks to destroy poll book information. Today, he put the warning in writing.

Riordan ruled today on both parties' motions for summary disposition. The State's motion asked the court to dismiss the case — laches, exhaustion, and primary jurisdiction, all three grounds rejected. McQueer's motion asked the court to do the opposite: find that Benson's rule was invalid, without further proceedings. Riordan denied that too, for now.

At the heart of the case is a straightforward conflict. A state rule orders local clerks to delete electronic poll book files seven days after an election is certified. A federal law says keep those same records for 22 months, and makes destroying them early a crime. Bridgewater Township Clerk Michelle McQueer sued Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Elections Director Jonathan Brater, and the Department of State in August, arguing she can't obey both and asking a court to say which one wins.

But in a footnote, Riordan addressed the question that's been on everyone's mind since Wednesday: if clerks face federal criminal liability for deleting records under the seven-day rule, could that same charge reach Benson too, since she's the one who ordered them to do it?

The State's lawyer argued at Wednesday's hearing that Benson's own legal exposure is "completely speculative," pointing out the Department of Justice hasn't enforced that federal law in 14 years, so why worry. Riordan wasn't willing to let that stand. He called such risk tolerance "quite remarkable and reckless."

The State still owes McQueer answers to two requests for clarification she's been waiting on since last October. Once those come, both sides get one more round to argue whether the rule is actually legal. The temporary restraining order preventing the destruction of the electronic poll book data stays until then. McQueer doesn't have to delete anything.

Nobody's won this case yet. But a judge just put in writing, over his own signature, that the State's confidence it has no legal worries is reckless.