The article’s author is an idiot. The electoral college was not put in place to “ensure regional balance”, it was put in place to make sure large states like New York did not have disproportionate influence on federal elections much like the reason each state has only 2 senators.
“The electoral college was not put in place to “ensure regional balance”, “
There were no political parties when the Electoral College was invented, so there was a real worry that a candidate popular in just a few big states would win a plurality, with the votes of the rest split among several other candidates. This, in fact, happened. The Electoral College was there to ensure that a winner had the majority of electors’ votes, even if he didn’t have a majority of the popular votes. If no one could get this majority, then the election was thrown to the House to decide.
A direct election with the winner being the person who gets the most votes could result in a person in a field of four getting only 30% of the vote and winning. The Electoral College in this case would prevent that and likely give the selection over to the House, where a majority is required.
This election illustrated that, with no candidate getting a majority of the votes. The Electoral College clears that up.