As far as I understand, the 22 months is just a procedural thing - as in, by default you can cleanup the election machines after 22 months without breaking a law. However that does not mean it gives you a fundamental right to delete them.

Firstly, any records retained by any entities outside of the machines (like backups, forensic images etc) are not affected by this. And of course, it does not stop any authority, not limited to judges, to order preservation of said records.