In the run up to the 2000 election the democrats were crying that if Bush won the popular vote it wouldn’t matter as long as Gore won the electoral vote. Well, the opposite happened and they changed their tune.
The Democrats also learned that if they can manufacture votes in blue states, which would not be necessary in the current electoral college process as they would have won the state anyway, they can offset actual votes in red states. Recalling the Florida fiasco - imagine a nationwide close vote (anything less than 1.5 million) and the nationwide recounts - every precinct in the country could be manufacturing or eliminating votes.