Third-party challenge faces long but not impossible odds

The contentious primary season may be winding down, but third-party activists are still mulling the possibility of launching an eleventh-hour alternative to a likely Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton matchup in November.

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With the first major independent ballot deadline coming on Monday in Texas, potential third-party backers face an ambitious but not insurmountable calendar of ballot access requirements that call for tens of thousands of signatures.

“I would say it’s very feasible,” ballot access expert Richard Winger told ABC News. “The vast majority of deadlines are in July, August, and September, and even for those that are earlier, they are probably unconstitutional and can be overturned in court.”

The discussions come as top elected Republicans split over whether to back their presumptive nominee, Trump. The most prominent defection so far has been House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking elected GOP official in the country, who said yesterday he was not ready to back Trump yet.

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