(a) The Department shall endorse the date and time of receipt on the ballot envelope of each absentee ballot received thereby.
(b) For an absentee ballot to be counted under this chapter, an elector voting by absentee ballot shall return the elector marked ballot to the Department office of the county in which the voter resides before the polls close on the day of the election.
(c) The Department shall retain unopened any ballot envelope it receives after the polls close on the day of the election until the last day of February next after the election, or longer if directed by proper authority or required to do so by federal law.