The anger, disruption and civil disorder that would result in a state's Electors casting their ballots for an active candidate
other than the one chosen by the citizens cannot easily be imagined. It would make our current situation, in terms of tenseness and outrage, seem like a calm stroll in the park by comparison. It would, and rightly so, be considered a slap in the face by a political elite directed toward the people. "Faithless Electors", as they're known, have never swung a Presidential election, and you have to go all the way back to 1796 to find an instance of an Elector casting their ballot for the other active major Party candidate (as opposed to casting their ballot for a third-party candidate or even a non-candidate).
Nevertheless, discrepancies that exist between a state's population and the way Electors are allocated do result in the voting power of one state's citizens to be, in effect, a fraction of that of the citizen of another state.
The Electoral College only exists because the Founders, not having access to a crystal ball with which they could foresee the coming of political parties and nationwide campaigning, believed that the voters in one state would be ignorant about candidates from other states and so could not be trusted to make good voting decisions. In addition, the slave states pushed hard for the EC's adoption.
https://theconversation.com/electora...y-shows-142600