A judge has ruled that Kentucky's election filing deadline will be postponed one week while he decides the constitutionality of new legislative districts in the Commonwealth.
Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday afternoon, hours before the original deadlines for legislative hopefuls to file candidacy papers.
House Republicans hit hard by the new legislative maps filed a lawsuit last week challenging the legality of newly drawn boundaries that they say favor Democrats. The lone Democrat who was redistricted out of her elected position joined the lawsuit.
The lawsuit contends the new legislative districts could have been better balanced by population and could have been drawn in a way that would have required fewer splits in counties and precients.