ALBANY, N.Y. —  With less than three months until the general election, the New York State Board of Elections said there are only three ways for Congressman Chris Collins to get off the ballot in New York's 27th district: death, disqualification or declination.

"You can only decline a nomination during specific declination periods and all the relevant ones for the House of Representatives have passed," said John Conklin, the Board of Elections' director of public information.

Still, Conklin said Collins declining his congressional nomination appears to be the most likely option due to a provision under New York State law that would open a new declination period should he be nominated for a second office.

"If a candidate, god forbid, passed away and it created a vacancy or someone was disqualified because maybe it's a different office and they have a stricter residency requirement and maybe they don't live in their district or they moved or something like that and that creates a vacancy in another office, any of those could happen, or could be an office that the nominations haven't occurred for yet," he said.

Observers have also speculated Collins could change his residency to Florida, where he already owns a house. Conklin said there is some precedence for that but believes it would be tougher to execute and to prove.

"They'd have to produce some significant documents that demonstrate they've essentially renounced their residency in New York state," he said.

Conklin pointed out even if Collins is nominated for the office, he must accept that nomination in order to open a new congressional declination period. The congressman's office did not respond to questions about his plans; however, Republican party leaders remain confident he will cooperate. They are currently in the process of vetting candidates and hope to choose a new one within roughly a week.