A lawsuit filed by the Dorchester County Democratic Party over Republican Party candidate certification was expanded Monday to include the GOP organizations and Election Commissions in Berkeley, Charleston and Colleton counties.

In addition to ordering the Dorchester GOP to turn over candidate filing paperwork to be scanned and made public on Monday, the judge in the case also added several new defendants. Those include the Berkeley County Republican Party, the Charleston County Republican Party, the Colleton County Republican Party, the Berkeley County Election Commission, the Charleston County Election Commission, the Colleton County Election Commission, Sean Bennett, Mike Rose and Tony Piscatella.

Bennett is the GOP nominee for the S.C. Senate District 38 seat. He beat incumbent Sen. Mike Rose in the primary for that nomination.

Piscatella is a Dorchester County GOP election officer and serves as the party's Document custodian. He has filed three afadavits in the ongoing case concerning the candidate filing process in the races at the center of the case.

Charleston County Republican Party Chair Lin Bennett was not immediately available for comment.

The Charleston County GOP is already involved in a similar lawsuit brought in Charleston County by George Tempel over whether Republican Paul Thurmond followed the proper procedure when he filed to run for the S.C. Senate District 41 Seat. The trial date in that case is scheduled for Aug. 13.