Tbf before that the last time it had become an issue was the late 1800s

Before 2000 there had actually been a significant push by Nixon to get it abolished because until 2000 conservatives agreed that an outcome where the EC and Popular vote were out of sync was bad and should be avoided, and IIRC the effort lost steam because the shock of realizing it was “possible” was outpaced by everyone dismissing that “well that hasn’t happened in decades! It won’t ever happen again!”