Ballots contain all the information necessary for generating specific surveys.

A ballot is a Survey engine record created during the Sampling process, and which contains all the information necessary for generating a specific survey, including the look and feel information, branding, and expiration timestamp. It's purged once the survey is completed or expired.

Survey records are generated by the import process, and they are updated over time as the Medallia Experience Cloud processes them and as survey responses are provided. The interaction information, as well as the questions and responses, are stored with in the survey record.

Personalized surveys invite individuals to participate in a survey about a unit interaction. The Invitation email, created by the Sampling process, also generates the corresponding ballot. The Survey engine uses this ballot to create the survey seen by the respondent. Once the survey is completed or expires, the Survey engine updates the survey record and removes the ballot. Surveys cannot be accessed once their record is purged.

For Anonymous surveys, the Survey engine creates the ballot when the survey is accessed, based on the survey version.