What you see on air doesn't fully capture the chaos of covering a presidential election year. Behind the scenes, hundreds of moving parts and people work around the clock, tracking each campaigns every move.
But deep within NBC Headquarters in New York, hidden from view, there's a team so elite, an area so restricted--it requires ropes, and not just any ropes.
"These are actually red velvet ropes we borrow from SNL. They can spare them for Election night," explained John Lapinski, Director of NBC's Elections Unit.
The velvet ropes and a security guard protect the elections team from the outside world on contest nights. Managers and news producers are kept out, while the Decision Desk team works its magic.
"What's very key on election night is the Decision Desk doesn't want any external pressure from anywhere, from Inside the Company, from other sources," explained Lapinski of his team.
Specialists, PhDs, professors and analysts are the ones making the calls. They're experts in elections and the math behind elections. High level statistics, survey research, entrance and exit polling are the ingredients behind projecting and prognosticating.
"There's a lot of brain power here," said Lapinski of the group. "This is a team operation. No one individual could ever do this."
It's a team united by one common goal: "We do not to be wrong. We're extremely cautious and apply very high standards."
"We ingest this data that we get from our vendors and put in countless models that we use to analyze all different types of that data to come up with a projection," explained Lapinski.
While the basic idea remains unchanged over time, the math and technology have become increasingly complex. President Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns changed the game of how data is applied to politics, persuasion and predicting outcomes.
"The information that's available really lets you be methodical," Lapinski said. "We want to make sure we're as sophisticated as the parties."
While the Decision Desk's central command may be located in New York, a digital team works in Seattle within the Columbia Center. Their job is to make sure the Decision Desk's results get distributed online and across platforms, whether you're reading from your tablet or smart phone.
"They might get very little of that Seattle summer to enjoy, just because they're going to be working really hard on elections all year long," said Lapinski who is originally from Seattle himself.
Lapinski recalls 2008—when it wasn't until June that Barack Obama emerged the leader of the primary cycle, ahead of Hillary Clinton. 8 years later—politicos are preparing for a potentially equally long season.
"I think we're far from knowing what this cycle is going to look like," he told KING 5.
Lapinski says it may not be until after New Hampshire and South Carolina when patterns start to emerge, during what's started as an unpredictable presidential election cycle.
No guesses from this team quite yet on who will be President number 45.
"We all what to know, but it's just too early to know who it's all going to unfold," he said.
"You're probably not willing to make a prediction," asked KING 5's Natalie Brand.
"No, no, no. I won't make predictions, but I will make projections on election nights, so you'll have to stay tuned to that," Lapinski teased.
