HR felt messy throughout the process. I had to constantly follow up on next steps and many times felt ghosted. At some point, I felt anxiety because HR would say I was a shoe in and then the next minute there was a delay. In many ways, they hired based on popularity.
I can say that speaking with the EIC was a good moment in the interview. Other interviewers throughout the process felt "we're in, you're out" and HR simply shrugged it off.