You might also posit something like this - "If we went by popular vote, suppose it ended up that one candidate led the other by a mere 100,000. If you think Florida 2000 Bush/Gore was a zoo, what do you think that one would be like?"
Unfortunately, when there is only a 1% to 2% difference in the popular vote, errors and cheating can make the difference.
The question: what is the expected error in our electoral process — +/-3%? More? Less?