> Why do you need this over-complicated system of states, electoral votes, blue vs. red states, etc?

The overly complicated bits of the electoral system aren't an accident, they originally existed to provide a way to award more votes to slaveholding states. There just wouldn't have been a lot of people (remember, most of the founding fathers didn't count slaves as people) voting in those southern states, so they'd feel underrepresented.

These things take a long time and a lot of effort to change once people figure out whether the system benefits them or not.