One of the most common arguments defenders of the Electoral College make (other than that it protects small states) is that the institution protects us against the tyranny of the majority or against mob rule.

That depends on how you define either ‘tyranny’ or ‘mob rule.’ White, land-owning, men in the 1780’s (mostly in the South, but some in the North) defined both ‘tyranny’ and ‘mob rule’ contiguously as: ‘the rights of negroes and women to vote.’

The early power of the Electoral College stemmed from the 3/5ths clause in the Constitution: slaveowners got more electoral college votes without having to give up the franchise to those slaves... Thus, the Electoral College is the last living vestige of slave-holding America. It doesn’t function that way any more, so it truly is vestigial, but that’s the reason for it. Proponents want to dine off more palatable definitions of ‘tyranny’ and ‘mob rule,’ but they got very little solid ground on which to stand.