(a) The Department shall purchase envelopes to be used as carrier envelopes, which shall be security mailing envelopes, designed to securely protect the contents thereof from tampering, removal, or substitution without detection and shall be large enough to accommodate multiple absentee ballots cast in the election.
(b) Carrier envelopes shall:
(1) For all purposes of this title be considered the official ballot boxes for absentee votes cast during a given election;
(2) Contain voted absentee ballots from a single election district;
(3) Be labeled to reflect the election district whose absentee ballots are held inside; and
(4) Ensure the security of said ballots in the event they must be moved for the purposes of certifying an election or recounting votes cast in an election.
(c) A sealed carrier envelope may be reopened only when necessary to certify an election or recount votes cast in an election.
(d) In the event the Department must move absentee ballots for the purposes of certifying an election, or recounting votes cast in an election, it shall select the carrier envelopes for the affected election districts and move them, in a secure fashion, to the location where the carrier envelopes will be opened and the votes inside inspected.
(e) Upon completion of any inspection of votes pursuant to this subsection, absentee ballots shall be returned to the carrier envelopes from which they were removed and the carrier envelopes shall be:
(1) Resealed in a secure manner, or shall be placed in another security envelope, for the purposes of securely protecting the contents thereof from tampering, removal, or substitution without detection; and
(2) Placed in a secure location and held there until such time as it is destroyed or moved for further legal process.