If the EC was eliminated, they wouldn’t have to. Just manufacture several million fraudulent votes in a state that is corrupt enough to allow it, and those fraudulent votes would offset all the opposing votes of all voters in all of the other states. A California going from 55% to 65% or 70% would swamp the popular vote from the rest of the country and determine the outcome.
With the EC, the winner must get pluralities in enough of the various states to get a majority of EC votes. And it must be an EC majority, not a just a plurality, as we’ve learned in previous elections with strong 3rd party candidates.
Thank you for that most excellent post. That example you stated is not just theory, but painful documented fact further aided me in understanding the math theory.
And there ARE states corrupt enough to the point that it is now expected as fact.