The EC is an American tradition and we should preserve it. The founders wanted this so, that small states have some say in who is elected and CA, TX, NY, and FL do not outvote everyone
Actually, the reason for the Electoral College is two-fold. First, they doubted that even in States with fairly restricted franchises that most voters would be familiar with potential Presidential candidates. (The Founders totally failed in not foreseeing the rise of national political parties.) Second, to deal with that they decided they wanted a legislature to decide who the executive would be, but for separation of powers reasons, they didn't want it to be Congress. The EC is just a special purpose legislature chosen every four years to accomplish one task and they decided to apportion it in the same manner as the Congress, but have it meet together as is often the case when State legislatures elect officials. (In South Carolina, the General Assembly meets in joint sessions when they choose judges and at one time, it did the same to elect the Governor.)
