State Rep. Ann Bollin this week testified in opposition to a controversial rule change the Secretary of State’s Office has proposed concerning the electronic pollbooks that local election officials use on Election Day.

The proposed rule would allow local officials to delete the electronic pollbook and associated files from all devices by the seventh day following the final canvass and certification of the election.

Bollin, who served as Brighton Township Clerk for 16 years before joining the Legislature, said that requirement should follow federal law, which requires election records to be retained for 22 months. She noted that current practice for most clerks is to retain the electronic pollbook records on flash drives, a low-cost option that makes it easy to keep them on hand for 22 months.

“This proposed rule set would allow for the destruction of election records at a critical point in the election process,” Bollin said. “As a former clerk, I was responsible for all record retention in my community of almost 20,000. Providing records when they’re needed or requested is high priority to preserve the trust of the public. But it only works well if we have the ability to retrieve the necessary documents. It is essential that we instill trust, confidence and a record that is retrievable by keeping electronic pollbook data – and all election records – for the federal retention requirement of 22 months. We should not part and parcel our election records.”

Bollin also expressed broader concerns about Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s efforts to alter election regulations over the last six years.

“Michigan, once known for having sound election law that had the necessary checks and balances at every stage of an election, has been stripped of many of these checks and balances over the past six-and-a-half years under Secretary Benson; often by directive, and not statute or rule as required and expected,” Bollin said. “We have seen her directives taken to court and overturned. Public confidence and trust in government is at an all-time low. Our elections are the people’s voice, and if we do not have election integrity, we do not have a voice.”