Republicans also pointed to recent changes in election law that stressed the state's electoral system and may have caused the errors.

[1] Claudia Tenney, a resident of the Utica suburb New Hartford,[5] won the 2016 House race with 44 percent of the vote, beating Democrat Kim Myers and independent candidate Martin Babinec.

Speaking about the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, she said "so many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats".

[29] Tenney faced criticism from Phillips for the attention she attracted for her controversial statements in 2018, her defeat in 2018, and her refusal to participate in primary debates.

[32] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order allowing vote by mail for any voter who wished to do so.

New York state government responses to the pandemic such as stay-at-home orders and bans on large gatherings halted canvassing and campaign events.

[63][64]: 3–4 Shortly following lockdown in his district, Brindisi self-quarantined after fellow Blue Dog Ben McAdams tested positive.

[72][73] Tenney received endorsements from several police unions in the state and district, who generally supported Republicans in this election cycle.

[68]: 23–26  Bills passed in August allowed any voter in New York to request an absentee ballot and vote by mail in the general election.

[115] Donald Trump vocally opposed efforts to expand voting by mail, which caused some Republican voters to distrust absentee ballots.

When Justice DelConte asked the Oneida County commissioners how to determine which ballots were counted or contested, they admitted it was now impossible, which the judge called "a serious problem.

[148] Anticipating a lengthy legal process, Brindisi retained Perkins Coie, often regarded as the premier Democratic election law firm.

[155] Tenney's counsel moved to conclude the legal proceedings and declare her the winner, arguing that the records and documentation of the initial canvass were inadequate for the judge to make any rulings on those ballots.

[168] As Oneida County's recount progressed, Brindisi briefly gained a 14-vote lead, but Tenney regained a 29-vote margin at the end of the year.

A 2020 reform prevents ballots from being rejected due to minor technical violations, as long as they demonstrate "substantial compliance"; the interpretation and scope of that phrase were debated by the Brindisi and Tenney teams.

The teams differed on whether to accept affidavit ballots that were left unsealed, or sealed with "I Voted" stickers; due to COVID-19, some voters and poll workers were reluctant to lick envelopes.

[132] On January 29, DelConte's clerk sent a letter to a Tenney campaign volunteer warning her that text messages she was sending to the justice's cell phone appeared to be an attempt to improperly influence him, and to cease immediately.

[186][187] Brindisi's team asked to halt the certification,[188] arguing that seating Tenney in Congress would render his appeal moot, but the judge rejected that argument.

[192][193][194] Under the Federal Contested Elections Act, Brindisi had the option to ask the House of Representative to intervene in the 30 days following certification.

Other Republicans placed blamed on changes to state election law passed by Democrats, although Judge DelConte disagreed with that being a factor.

[209] Advocates referred to New York's election system as "antiquated" and lacking transparency,[210][211][212] and needed to reorient their operations to accommodate higher rates of voting by mail.

[205] The state branch of Common Cause noted that New York's 58 boards of elections all had different ways of counting and tabulating ballots, and called for a single consistent standard.

However, these bills had to compete for attention with other issues in Albany such as COVID-19 and the Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment allegations, so as of August 2021[update] have not been signed into law.

[215][216] Tenney later formed the House Election Integrity Caucus with co-chair California Representative Mike Garcia, who won his race by only 333 votes.

[5] None of the candidates attended the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote count on January 6, nor were they present during the ensuing Capitol attack.

[228] Later on, Tenney stated that were she in Congress at the time, she "really would've been torn" on whether to vote to certify the election results, and repeated a claim that many of the rioters were not Trump supporters.

[230] At the beginning of February, the Oneida County Board of Election commissioners—Democrat Carolann Cardone and Republican Rose Grimaldi—were unanimously re-appointed as commissioners by their respective parties.

[204] This caused an outcry, since they had been singled out multiple times by the judge during the legal proceedings, and Oneida County was responsible for the most severe errors in the election.

In the notification, the Justice Department alleged that the Oneida County Board of Elections failed to process at least 2,400 voter registration applications that had been submitted by the deadline, and improperly rejected hundreds of affidavit ballots.

[209][202] Proposals for reforming boards of elections included term limits, state funding, the option to bring in state workers to assist a Board of Election under stress, adding basic job requirements such as a college degree and relevant experience, and the abolition of the present system of political appointees in favor of permanent civil service positions.