Except the voting on November 8, 2016 was not provided for in the Constitution, they were advisory votes to 50 State Legislatures as to the appointment of their electors, 306 of whom, appointed in the normal matter, voted for Donald Trump.
There was, and there is, no such thing as a "Presidential election" in our laws (unless you mean the convening of the Electoral College in December).
That is a very valid point I’ve never seen discussed here or anywhere else, let alone outlined more broadly.
Well put.