I have witnessed first-hand democracy that is actually a monarchy in effect because all the officials comes from one family and any attempt to dislodge them are met with Guns, Gold, and Goons.
The idea of the electoral college and Preferential voting although it sounds elitist but for me it makes sense because like in my countty most politicians win due to being popular because they were a movie star (Erap Estrada become the President once) a boxer (Manny Pacquio is a senator) and a clown (Fucking Tto "Plagiarist" Sotto is Senate President currently, Yeah I really hate this person)
Sortition looks like something that might work in conjunction with blockchain technology and smart contracts to lessen tampering.
Democracy can definitely be a thin veneer for other regimes, just saying something is a democracy doesn't make it one! However, I have to say I was writing from the point of view of someone whose experience of democracy is one that is bolstered by strong and independent civic institutions, (Australia and Netherlands). So, I had forgotten (in hindsight, obvious) that the word and concept of "democracy" might not have meant the same thing to all people!
Anyway, the American electoral college is a little strange and old-fashioned to me, the further abstraction of electing representatives to go and elect another representative is a little weird. Definitely something that was more appropriate for the horse-powered age.
Sortition (or epistocracy) is the most interesting concept to me from these three, as it has the most likely chance (haha) of producing a representative cross-section of the population. However, that does mean that the citizens have to be ready to stand up and do their duty to represent their fellow citizens, and if the experience of jury duty is any guide, this might prove to be a little tricky....