It's how representative government works. The electors represent the electorate. Perhaps imperfectly, but historically they've been 99.9% tied to the what the electorate told them. If we scrap the electoral college we might as well scrap congress and just go to direct balloting for every piece of legislation, for the reasoning for both is the same.
The founders of America detested direct democracy as "mob rule" and strongly denounced it. I've little doubt they'd have chosen to return to monarchy if forced to choose between the two extremes. What the system of representative government does is magnify the will of the electorate. If the electorate (as a whole) wants good leaders, it chooses the best from among itself to lead. But if it wants corrupt leaders, it chooses the most corrupt to lead them. That's how you've gotten to where you are today. And it's why de Toqueville and others warned that American government would only work if the people themselves were moral and upright. The rot in Washington merely reflects the net will of the electorate when all is said and done.
There is also a practical reason the electoral college was instituted - on more than one occasion the college has had to vote for president over many rounds of balloting. Imagine if you scrapped the electoral college and instead had to have a new election over and over and over until a winner emerged. I think they went 40 rounds or so one time. That would be insane if it had to be a general ballot of the whole of the American people that many times.
Since 1992 I've voted for candidates receiving less than 1% of the vote. Is my vote worthless? Every time I cast it I'm sending a message about what my real preferences are. I think the people who are really wasting their votes are the ones who "vote" by staying home, or who vote by compromising their conscience and picking "the lesser of two evils" because they think only a republicrat can win. Thus perpetuating the uniparty system and telling the political class that they have your support no matter how corrupt they become.
The Electoral College performs a vital role yes. I just think it should be different.
Let the American citizens vote for who they want and if there is a dispute then the Electoral College should come in and settle the differences.
The current system leaves the American public out of the picture completely, not even one vote matters. Everyone could vote for Hillary for example but if Congress and the Electoral College want Trump in guess who's getting in?
I'm not saying votes don't mean anything at all, just that they don't mean anything in regards to our president or what they are designed for.
This isn't a case of mob rule in regards to citizens voting, its a case of mob rule based off of only a few select the most important part of our life while we cannot do anything.