Brendan J. Lyons reports in the Times Union that the U.S. attorney’s office may have other “targets or subjects of the investigation” into election fraud allegations among Republicans in Rensselaer County. The U.S. attorney's office filed for a protective order that would bar the three Rensselaer County government officials indicted last week in the case from disclosing any information they receive through pre-trial discovery in their criminal cases with other potential “targets or subjects of the investigation.” Richard W. Crist, James R. Gordon, and Leslie A. Wallace were indicted in the election fraud case that revolves around filing false absentee ballots. So far, U.S. District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino, who is assigned the case for trial, has not made a ruling on the Justice Department’s request for a pre-trial discovery protective order. But at the indictment, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew T. Baxter said he was “very concerned about the prospect of witness tampering or coercion,” but rejected the government’s request to not share all information with the defendants. But he warned them that any misconduct could result in a change in their pre-trial release. The trio were indicted for allegedly conspiring to use their official positions to violate the constitutional rights of subordinate county employees to intimidate them into requesting and filing absentee ballots. Crist is the county’s director of operations; Gordon is director of the county’s Bureau of Central Services; and Wallace is an assistant for constituent relations in the office of county Executive Steve McLaughlin. Read more about this story in the Times Union.