You quote quite selectively. For example your first link also says: "Madison acknowledged that while a popular vote would be ideal, it would be difficult to ge

You quote quite selectively. For example your first link also says: "Madison acknowledged that while a popular vote would be ideal, it would be difficult to get consensus on the proposal given the prevalence of slavery in the South: There was one difficulty, however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes. The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to the fewest objections.[31]" So pretty much what I said, the direct popular vote would have been ideal in Madison's view and the electoral college was a compromise. In fact the compromise was because the southern states wanted voting power according to the slaves they owned without letting them vote.