system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is Ohio so important in elections?

Ohio doesn't have the Electoral votes other states have (only 18) nor does it have the population of other states (7th overall).  Why does it hold so much sway when it comes to election time?
gpt
Most of the large states lean pretty heavily in one direction or another. fivethirtyeight.com gives Clinton a 99.9% chance of winning California, worth the most electoral votes. They give Trump an 85% chance of winning Texas. Since these states are all winner-take-all, it's just assumed that Clinton gets all of California's votes and Trump gets all of Texas's votes. 

If you add up all the "safe" states for each side, they both have about 230 of the 270 votes they need locked up. So it's the handful of states that are about 50/50 on who to vote for that really get a lot of focus. And of the states that are "in play", Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are the ones with the most electoral votes.