FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- A judge has ruled that Kentucky's election filing deadline will be postponed for a week, while he decides the constitutionality of new legislative districts in the state.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, hours before the original deadlines for legislative hopefuls to file candidacy papers.

Republicans hit hard in a contentious redistricting battle, filed a lawsuit last week, challenging the constitutionality of newly drawn legislative boundaries they claim favor Democrats.

State Senator Kathy Stein, the lone Democrat who was redistricted out of her elected position in Fayette County, joined the lawsuit.

The lawsuit contends that the new legislative districts could have been better balanced by population, and that they could have been drawn in a way that would have required fewer splits in counties and precincts.