The rationale behind the Electoral College is that the States, and not the People, elect the President. It works against certain forms of vote fraud (let us say a state having fabricated 90 million votes) or having a veritable single-Party system in which the second-largest Party is effectively shut out, as was true in much of the post-Reconstruction South. Thus the Electoral College recognizes no difference between winning a state 51-48 or winning it 81-18 in assessing the value of the votes. Thus if democracy failed in one state that state would not have inordinate power in the federal government.
The problem is that minorities within states become irrelevant -- like blacks in most of the South. maybe rural interests in New York State -- even if they are significant. I want to see Democratic Presidential candidates seeking votes among Mexican-Americans in Texas, and I want Republican Presidential candidates seeking votes among agricultural interests in California. Minorities matter in close elections.
There are 5 million rural voters in California alone who are screwed by the Electoral College. If you're a rural voter in a big state you're actually disadvantaged just as much as any urban voter there is.
Likewise, the EC massively and disproportionately benefits voters in Nevada, which is the 4th most urban state in the US.
