To resist Sauron’s master weapon takes great courage, a strong heart, and an endurance that many have failed at across the years, which is why the choice is so hard. Many people present at the council, including Gandalf the grey, a great and mighty maiar, and Elrond himself, one of the oldest and most noble of all the elves in Middle Earth, would not have been able to do this task.
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Even one like Boromir, from an impressive lineage and carrying only good intentions, fell surprisingly quickly to the rings lust. Therefore it was imperative that the right person take on the quest, and that they had the right help along the way. And despite arming the ring-bearer with a host of companions to help get him to the gates and defend him from the countless dangers and foes that they would encounter along the way, both Elrond and Gandalf knew that in the end, in the darkest moments of despair and the deepest moments of torture, it would come down to the Ring-bearer alone to see the quest through to the end. That is why it was so imperative for the person to know what they were getting themselves into, and to be prepared to stick it out, no matter what.
Therefore, Frodo volunteering himself to take the ring to Mordor was the most surprising option, but also the only plan that actually had any hope of being successful. At the point at which Frodo comes forward and offers to be the ring bearer, everyone around the podium is already arguing and at each other’s throats about who is up to the task. Boromir would clearly want to take the ring to Gondor, to protect his people and strengthen his kingdom, but in trying to use the ring against Sauron he would bring about the world’s downfall.
Gimli and Legolas at this moment are arguing about such an important mission being too much for each other to handle, as Gimli stubbornly refuses to let such a crucial task fall to the elves, and Legolas sees Gimli only as a stubborn and greedy dwarf, so they would likely have come to blows without ever reaching a solution. Gandalf has already declined the ring, because through him it would “wield a power to great and terrible to imagine”. And leaves only Aragorn, who would be the next best choice, but may also be prone to fall to the desire of the ring at the last moment, just like his forebear Isildur did.
So, in many senses, there was no one other person that Elrond could have picked. It relied upon Frodo making his own decision, and making it over and over again throughout te duration of his journey to Mount Doom. It was essential that Frodo volunteered himself, and that he committed himself fully to being the Ring-bearer no matter what triumphs and losses happened along the quest.
Elrond could not have made him go if he had not already wished it, but he also couldn’t have entrusted such a delicate task to anyone else in the vicinity. It had to be a hobbit, because the council had already noticed the shocking but amazing resistance that the halflings showed to the ring, as had been demonstrated by Bilbo having the dark object with him for so long in the Shire without it driving him mad. In that way, only Frodo or Sam could have done it, which is why Elrond allowed them to go together, and why Gandalf was so relieved that Sam had gone with Frodo right to the end so that he didn’t have to bear such an awful burden alone.
No one could be chosen, it was a decision that could only ever have been successful if it were chosen for oneself, without any ulterior motives, without any designs on power or glory or rewards, simply to do what needed to be done in order to make the world a better place and finally rid it of the evil that had lingered there for centuries. Only someone who offered to take the ring specifically to destroy it, not to use it, would have been capable of such a monumental task.
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