Commentary America has sponsored a constitutionally authorized national convention every four years since the founding of the Republic. All these conventions have done their jobs and honored their assigned agendas. Alarmists who claim a federal amendments convention would rage uncontrolled should remember the success of our quadrennial national conventions. We call them, collectively, the Electoral College. This column explores the place of the Electoral College in the constitutional structure. It also examines some of its lesser-known characteristics. The Electoral College is the middle tier in a three-tier presidential election system. The tiers are: State appointment of presidential electors in the manner directed by the state legislatures. All state legislatures have delegated this choice to the voters at large. Election of the president and vice president by a majority vote of the presidential electors. If no one receives a majority of electors (and this is very rare), a run-off election in …