Nice review of 1876.
But it doesn't explain why we need an EC does it.
It does, if you actually read it.
Once AGAIN I actually did read it. And it described who had how many and what they did about it but it doesn't explain how the EC system saved the day.
There have been innumerable close disputed elections for Governors and Mayors and Senators (etc etc etc) with no Electrical College involved, and they all got resolved, didn't they.
A city can hobble along without a mayor for a few months. A state can survive with a Senator or two out of the Senate for the time it takes to resolve an election dispute.
How long should a country be expected to be without a President because one side has stuffed the ballot box?
Again, not the issue here.
If you're alluding to how the issue only got resolved two days before inauguration day, then either the current administration hangs on until it is resolved, or the position is filled by the 3rd in line, which I believe would be the Speaker.
But again none of this addresses the question of how the EC system resolved 1876 while a non-EC system could not.