You have to understand that our electoral system is a remnant of a time when women, minorities, and renters were (generally speaking, though there were exceptions) not thought qualified to indulge in self-determination. While the laws have been updated, the creaky legacy structure underneath has some pretty severe issues.
The statement above is an accurate representation of both the history and where we find ourselves today regarding US federal elections and voting rights in general.
Not really. The electoral system wasn't set up that way to deny votes to women or minorities or the property-less, it was basically set up that way in an attempt to provide better security for the actual vote, when vote fraud was prevalent. There have actually been cases of competing sets of electors heading to Washington, intent on voting for different candidates, based on the same set of popular votes. The electors were essentially asked to guarantee the vote that they were casting was legitimate. It didn't always work smoothly (see the Jefferson-Burr election in 1800) but it was better than getting competing vote totals from remote states at a time when there are no radios, television, trains, cars or any other way to get quickly to Washington other than horseback, to report vote totals.
The statement above is not accurate. First, there is
nothing in the Constitution, including all of the amendments and up to and including the present day,
which guarantees a right for any US citizen to vote. This is due to the deep disagreements between the framers as to who should be allowed to vote. They therefore left it to the states to determine, which has resulted in a ridiculous and confusing mess. Your right to vote depends on where you reside.
Second, the existence of the "Electoral College" (a term which is found nowhere in the Constitution, interestingly) was based on a compromise at the Constitutional Convention between a plan proposed by Virginia to have the President chosen by a vote of Congress and the desires of some for election by a popular vote of "qualified citizens". It had nothing to do with "security for the actual vote" by the chosen Electors as that is left to the individual states. It had nothing to do with "getting competing vote totals from remote states" or "electors heading to Washington". Electors do not head to Washington and never have. Electors meet in their own states and have from the beginning. It can be reasonably assumed that the distances involved and the lack of instantaneous communication, at the time the electoral system was devised and Congress determined the dates for various steps in the process, are part of the reasoning for Electors being chosen in their states in November, Electors meeting in their respective states in December to vote, and the Electors votes being counted in the US Senate in January. Plus, this allows time for challenges to be resolved.
It is true there have been events like the 1800 (Jefferson-Burr) and 1824 (Adams-Jackson) electoral tie votes in which case the House of Representatives chooses the President and the Senate chooses the Vice-President.
