2026 House Resolution 359

Whereas, Federal law imposes record retention requirements on election workers. Specifically, under 52 U.S.C. § 20701, “[e]very officer of election shall retain and preserve, for a period of twenty-two months” from the date of any election for federal office “all records and papers which come into [the officer’s] possession relating to any application, registration, payment of poll tax, or other act requisite to voting in such election.” County, township, and city clerks in Michigan qualify as “officers of election” for purposes of this law, due to their election administration responsibilities; and

Whereas, The Michigan Department of State recently promulgated rules on the use of the electronic pollbook in Rule Set No. 2025-14, codified as Michigan Administrative Code R 168.41 to 168.48. These rules require clerks to either use a secure live connection to the Qualified Voter File software, to allow real-time updates to voter history and ballot issuance, or upload voting history and other required files from the electronic pollbook to the Qualified Voter File within seven days after an election. Rule 8, R 168.48, provides:

(1) Subject to subrule (2) of this rule, the electronic pollbook software and associated files must

be deleted from all devices by the seventh day following the final canvass and certification of the

election, unless a petition for recount has been filed and the recount has not been completed, a

post-election audit has been scheduled, or the deletion of the data has been stayed by an order of

the court or the secretary of state. If a precinct is selected for an audit, the electronic pollbook

software and associated files must be deleted from all devices by the seventh day following

completion of the audit.

(2) The electronic pollbook software and associated files must not be deleted from devices until

the bureau of elections or county clerk, as applicable, issues the release of security memorandum

pertaining to that election. ; and

Whereas, R 168.48 directs Michigan’s election workers to act in a manner contrary to federal law. The electronic pollbook is a computer-based application used by election inspectors to confirm that applicants to vote are registered and eligible to vote, create a list of the voters who have cast ballots, and record the ballot number issued to each voter, among other functions, which comes into the possession of county, city, and township clerks when it is downloaded from the Qualified Voter File software, pursuant to the Michigan Election Law. R 168.48 requires the local electronic pollbook records to be deleted by the seventh day following the final canvass and certification of the election, before the expiration of the federal record retention period of 22 months from the date of the election; and

Whereas, There are risks inherent to the centralization of election records. According to a September 12, 2016, Intelligence Community Assessment, prepared for the National Intelligence Council and approved for release by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on July 17, 2025, experts have suggested that the decentralized nature of the United States’ election system may be a strength, as “the potential impact of system-specific cyber exploits would probably be limited, and an adversary would need to compromise multiple systems in multiple locations to alter outcomes in a national election.” Discussing voter registration records, for example, this report stated that “[s]tate-managed systems have greater potential for larger scale manipulation, due to the centralization of records”; and

Whereas, Foreign adversaries of the United States have been judged to have the capability to compromise U.S. election infrastructure. The 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment stated that “Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea can execute a variety of disruptive cyber attacks, including data corruption, distributed denial of service, and even data modification on some election infrastructure.” The report went on to say that, in certain situations, targeted cyber attacks might even be able to shift the overall outcome of an election; and

Whereas, The Michigan Department of State’s administrative rules on the use of the electronic pollbook do exactly what the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment warns against, which is to take all electronic pollbook records away from local clerks and centralize these records at the state level, leaving these records more susceptible to manipulation by foreign actors; and

Whereas, The integrity of election records is a precondition for accurate post-election audits, recounts, and judicial review, and the premature destruction of those records eliminates the evidentiary basis needed for any meaningful challenge to or verification of election outcomes; and

Whereas, The Michigan Legislature has an interest in conducting oversight of the Michigan Department of State’s administration of Michigan’s elections and has recognized the importance of local clerks retaining election records in the decentralized structure of our electoral system. This provides a vital check on the Secretary of State’s power and helps ensure our valuable and sensitive election records remain safe and untouched by foreign actors; and

Whereas, As the state’s chief election officer, the Michigan Secretary of State has a duty to administer and enforce election laws, including laws on the retention of electronic pollbook records. The Michigan Legislature and the Michigan Department of State thus share a common goal in ensuring that elections held in Michigan are protected with the utmost care, which is facilitated by a decentralized system for the storage of election records; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we urge the Michigan Department of State to rescind Administrative Rule R 168.48, to align the Department’s administrative rules with federal election laws and make Michigan election records less susceptible to manipulation by foreign actors; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Michigan Secretary of State and the clerk of each county, city, and township in Michigan.