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That would not prohibit a state from taking actions before the ballot results are sealed, as that vote takes place at the state.

If the ballot is secret and the Elector who voted is not known, then how does the state know which Elector to replace?

Are Electors' ballots public information? I don't think so. Article I says that Congress must record the yeas and nays, but it says nothing about the Electoral College.

Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist #68 says:

They have not made the appointment of the President to depend on any preexisting bodies of men, who might be tampered with beforehand to prostitute their votes; but they have referred it in the first instance to an immediate act of the people of America, to be exerted in the choice of persons for the temporary and sole purpose of making the appointment... Thus without corrupting the body of the people, the immediate agents in the election will at least enter upon the task free from any sinister bias.

This suggests to me that the ballots of Electors were to be kept secret, so that nobody would know which Elector voted for which candidate.

How can a state take action in this case?

-PJ

If the ballot is secret and the Elector who voted is not known,

That’s an ‘if’ which doesn’t exist. The votes are open and known when they occur.

Are Electors’ ballots public information? I don’t think so.

They are. That’s part of how we know which Elector voted in peculiar ways.

Article I says that Congress must record the yeas and nays, but it says nothing about the Electoral College.

The Electoral College is a vote in each individual state, which is then sent to Congress - and then validated by Congress. From time to time, Congress has invalidated submissions by states, such as one incident where two sets of results were sent.