What are the benefits to the US Electoral College system?

Boldizzle@lemmy.world to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 140 points –

So I'm a New Zealander and I have a pretty good idea on how the electoral college system works but it honestly sounds like something that can be easily corrupted and it feels like it renders the popular vote absolutely useless unless I'm totally missing something obvious?

So yeah if someone could explain to me what the benefits of such a system are, that would be awesome.

Edit - Thanks for the replies so far, already learning a lot!

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How would allowing electors to vote whatever they want be an improvement over binding them to state law?

Uncapping the house, yes, is a good thing. But I can't see how allowing unfaithful electors is a good idea.

Because they could weed out eminently unfit candidates, like a certain recent President.

But alternatively, it could be easily abused in the opposite direction. Better to just get rid of it and replace with some better voting system in my opinion.