A stern centurion at the gate of supreme power, the Electoral College keeps out the riffraff while nominally paying lip service to democracy.
Nobody can get by it without a lifetime membership in the status quo.
Founded in an era when the landed aristocracy feared mob rule, these patrician electors seem to enjoy giving an occasional thumbs down to the vox populi. With the notable exception of Madison and Morris, the framers of the Constitution didn't trust their fellow Americans to choose a responsible leader. How to choose the electors was left up to the states. A third method was to vote on electors by congressional districts. None of these methods worked very well, even when modified by the 12th Amendment.