Voting methods - one doesn't belong
18 November 2004 - Wired Magazine

The inclusion of the Electoral College among descriptions of a variety of voting methods (Instant Runoff, Approval, etc.) is completely out of place - it's not a method of voting like the others listed. Rather, it's a brilliant mechanism put in place by the Founders to preserve federalism's balance of power between the states. Without it, smaller states would be completely ignored by candidates in favor of the mobs of votes in the most populous states. The distribution of votes among the states prescribed in the Constitution is what keeps the 15 largest cities in America from selecting a president for the rest of the country.

Oh, and the winner-take-all system that's universally (and derogatorily) applied to the Electoral College? Not mandated in the Constitution - it specifically allows each state's legislature to determine for itself how to allocate its own electoral votes. Most states didn't allocate all of its electoral votes to a single candidate until the mid-1800s.