a paper trail

paper trail

Physical or digital documentation of a person's activities. The con artist wrote fraudulent checks all over the state, leaving a paper trail for police to follow. Frank swore that he wasn't using the company's computer for illegal activities, but the digital paper trail he left proved otherwise.
See also: paper, trail
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a paper trail

A paper trail is written evidence of someone or something's activities. Police investigations found a paper trail of checks that were written on false bank accounts. Unlike conventional voting systems, many electronic systems leave no paper trail to allow results to be double-checked.
See also: paper, trail
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • paper trail
  • pearly
  • babysit with (someone or something)
  • swizzle
  • swizzled
  • it's what's inside that counts
  • it's what's on the inside that counts
  • deepfake
  • fake
References in periodicals archive
Without a paper trail, could we ever know who had really won?
Election fraud, American style: the most effective voter suppression tool is the polling booth itself
550, a bill that would require electronic voting equipment to have a paper trail, something 27 states already require and 23 others are likely to require soon.
Saving our elections: America's once proud and trustworthy elections are being undermined, but concerned citizens can take steps to restore the integrity of our electoral process
The failing of electronic voting machines to produce a paper trail is an invitation for corruption or, at the very least, the appearance of corruption.
Follow nonexistent the paper trail: the technological advances in electronic voting machines rise accountability questions about today's democratic process
He has a paper trail a mile long.' A paper trail is a liability?
Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post Writers Group and The Boston Globe
(This could happen in a traditional system, but auditors would have a paper trail to check.) The auditor should be concerned that accounts receivable and revenue could be overstated if too many goods were shipped or that a contingent liability might exist if too few goods were shipped.
The electronic auditor: wave goodbye to the paper trail
But the lack of a paper trail or any system of accountability shows that--other than a quaint naive assumption--there are no indications that they aren't.
A brave new world of voting