Cast vote records are files that list "information about one ballot in the order [that it was] processed," according to Ordros Analytics, which has a master Cast Vote Record repository of counties that have released their records. The record "will contain all of the votes made on that ballot … This allows a data analyst to 'replay' the election ballot by ballot to spot unnatural patterns of voting."
According to the instructions provided by Ordros Analytics for submitting public records requests for cast vote records, those records contain no information that could identify voters.
Cast vote records show, in order, patterns of voting for a particular candidate, which is a model that should reveal whether further investigation is necessary, according to Phill Kline, director of voter integrity watchdog The Amistad Project. Such records ought to be retained automatically, he told Just the News on Wednesday, adding that "scientifically valid, risk-limiting audits are a way of doing that."