In slightly less than half the states (TIL—I thought it was most or all of them), the electors were chosen by the state legislatures, not using any sort of popular vote at all.
States had varying methods for choosing presidential electors. In five states, the state legislature chose electors. The other six chose electors through some form involving a popular vote, though in only two states did the choice depend directly on a statewide vote.
Arguably, that system (along with the pre-17th Amendment method of choosing senators) had better federalist separation of powers, by giving more importance to your state-level representative(s) instead of letting those things be a popular vote.
In slightly less than half the states (TIL—I thought it was most or all of them), the electors were chosen by the state legislatures, not using any sort of popular vote at all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1788–89_United_States_presidential_election
Arguably, that system (along with the pre-17th Amendment method of choosing senators) had better federalist separation of powers, by giving more importance to your state-level representative(s) instead of letting those things be a popular vote.