True enough. Why then isn't the elector's name on the ballot? Why this pretend game?
There is a good reason for that. The founding fathers realized that as soon as a law was written, people would try to evade it. So they reasoned that the constitution should be filled with checks and balances of all kinds, bodies of people with competing interests.
In this case, it was a four way balance. The people would directly and democratically elect US congressmen to the House, which is why it is called “The People’s House”.
The state legislatures would appoint senators, who would act to protect their state from the US government, but also protect the citizens of their state from being interfered with by the US government. Or else they would be fired.
The Electoral College would elect the POTUS. Importantly, if no candidate was selected on the first ballot, all the electors became free agents. This has mattered in several presidential elections. Only once they have been so deadlocked that the vote went to the House to select the president.
Importantly, the POTUS would appoint justices to the Supreme Court, but they would have to be approved by the senate (and thus by the states, by proxy).