Jury selection got underway Monday in the election fraud conspiracy trial involving three Rensselaer County officials: Rich Crist, Jim Gordon and Leslie Wallace. All three are well-known as GOP operatives.

Even though testimony likely won’t begin for at least another day or so, there was interesting and compelling information revealed during Monday’s jury selection.

It is Crist, Gordon and Wallace’s alleged illegal conspiracy involving the criminal mishandling of absentee ballots during the 2021 campaign season that put them in legal hot water.

The discovery materials turned over to three separate defense teams is voluminous. The witness list is lengthy. Many of the names on that list are well-known and perhaps concerning to the defendants.

The government’s witness list includes the names of roughly 50 individuals who may testify against them.

Former GOP Elections Commissioner Jason Schofield, who has already pleaded guilty in the investigation and is currently awaiting sentencing, is on the list.

Kim Ashe-McPherson, the former Troy councilwoman who herself fell from grace in an illegal election scheme, is also on that list.

In addition, Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin, who was acquitted in a state trial of misappropriating campaign funds, is on the same list.

McLaughlin, who is not charged in this case, is the political boss who put the three defendants in the positions they were in at the time of their arrests.

Also on the witness list are the names of several Rensselaer County employees allegedly pressured by Crist and the others to allow their names to be used on ballots.

Many of those employees testified before a grand jury.

Jurors in the case will also hear from FBI agents and federal employees who spent two years investigating complaints against the defendants.

All three are accused of violating the constitutional rights of county employees and others. Wallace is also charged with lying to the FBI. Gordon faces a witness tampering charge.

NewsChannel 13 will keep you updated on the trial on WNYT.com and our later newscasts.