(a)

1. (1) The Secretary of State shall establish a process to consider requests from counties to adjust or partially waive the minimally required number, location, or operational duration, of vote centers, consolidated polling places, or ballot drop-off locations described in Section 1602 or Sections 4005 and 4007. The process shall include, but not be limited to, review and modification, denial, or granting of a county’s request in a timeframe to be determined by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall not grant a county a complete waiver of the minimally required number, location, or operational duration, of vote centers, consolidated polling places, or ballot drop-off locations described in Section 1602 or Sections 4005 and 4007.

2. (2)

   1. (A) Prior to requesting a modification or partial waiver pursuant to paragraph (1), a county shall develop a draft plan that includes, but is not limited to, a written analysis of in-person voting needs in that county. The written analysis shall identify how the county’s proposed levels of in-person voting are designed to safely accommodate the anticipated demand for voting services at those locations, including in-person voting, ballot replacement, ballot drop-off, conditional voter registration, language assistance, and voting assistance, shall report on efforts made to secure the otherwise required number of vote centers, consolidated polling places, and election personnel, and shall include a discussion of how the elections official will ensure that there will not be a disparate impact on any protected class of voters with regard to availability of voting machines and voting locations. In determining in-person voting locations that will be made available pursuant to the plan, the county shall consider the needs of individuals who do not have a history of voting by mail and other criteria described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (10) of subdivision (a) of Section 4005, to the extent data is readily available.
   2. (B) The county elections official shall publicly notice in all legally required languages for that county the draft plan required by subparagraph (A), shall post a copy of the draft plan in all legally required languages for that county on the elections official’s internet website, and shall accept public comments on the draft plan for at least 10 days after publicly noticing the draft plan.
   3. (C) Following the 10-day review period required by subparagraph (B), the elections official shall consider any public comments the official receives from the public, shall amend the draft plan in response to the public comments to the extent the official deems appropriate, and may adopt a final plan and submit that plan to the Secretary of State along with the request for a modification or partial waiver pursuant to paragraph (1). The elections official shall post the county’s request for a modification or partial waiver on the elections official’s internet website, and the Secretary of State shall post a copy of the secretary’s response on the secretary’s internet website.

3. (3) A partial waiver or modification shall not be granted to a county unless the elections official in that county can demonstrate all of the following:

   1. (A) The official made best efforts to secure the required in-person voting locations.
   2. (B) The plan will not have a negative disparate impact on disabled voters or any protected class of voters.
   3. (C) The plan will not reduce in-person voting locations below a number of locations necessary to safely and efficiently accommodate the anticipated demand for in-person voting services.
4. (4) For the purposes of this subdivision, “protected class” means a class of voters who are members of a race, color, or language minority group, as this class is referenced and defined in the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. Sec. 10301 et seq.).