The electoral college inhibits the emergence of third parties and thus acts as a bulwark against extremist candidates.  The founding fathers had a reason to fear the emergence of extremist parties. A modern day example is with Rwanda. When they gained a multiparty democracy, without checks on majority rule, it allowed for extremist parties to enter politics and made possible the use of public resources to manipulate the population which set the necessary precondition of ethnic hatred that enabled the genocide to occur [1] .  [1] Mamdani, M., 2001. When Victims Become Killers. Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press. p209