Dennis Baylor, an independent candidate for Pennsylvania's 29th state Senate seat, filed a lawsuit Monday in Federal District Court to stop the Pennsylvania's Department of State from denying what Baylor says is his First Amendment rights of "Free Speech" and "Association."

The deadline for independent and third-party candidates to file nominating papers for the November election is Aug. 1. Baylor is challenging how the state assesses the validity of the signatures on petitions to access the November ballot.

While Republicans and Democrats have to gather fewer signatures to get on the ballot and hold "invitation only" primary elections to select candidates, independent and third-party candidates are at a disadvantage in Pennsylvania, which has some of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the nation.

Baylor charges in his complaint (Docketed at CV-08-1060) that the State Department's practice of not "officially" recognizing third party candidacies until the Aug. 1 deadline for them to file petitions to access the ballot, is discriminatory, and amounts to giving the major party candidates an impermissible head start in political races.

Baylor also claims that the pervasive practice of gerrymandering legislative districts unconstitutionally burdens First Amendment rights of "Association" by geometrically expanding the media markets a candidate must reach due to the fracturing of "communities of interest."

It's a long shot, but Baylor has little to lose. The deck is already stacked against independent and third-party candidates.

A copy of Baylor's complaint is posted on his blog.

The 29th Senate District covers all of Schuylkill County and parts of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton counties. The incumbent is Republican James Rhoades, who has held seat since 1981.