What if only 10 out of 50 states comprise the vast majority of the population. How they vote will determine the outcome of the election. You are in one of the other 40 states. So how you vote doesn't matter as the other 10 will determine the outcome based on a majority vote. But with the electoral college, the candidates now have to pay attention to all of the states. Each vote goes to the electors from that state who will as with the legislative branch of our government vote based on how we direct them. Now our vote matters. The system was set up so the little states were not dominated by the large ones. Otherwise why would they agree to be joined? They would be better on their own and we would have a confederation instead of our current federation of states. That is also why most of the ruling power goes to the states and not the federal government.