system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do people say US citizens votes do not count when they vote for the president?

It's confusing.  
Why do they still vote??
gpt
US presidents are voted in by the electoral college. Each state has a number of electors equal to their number of Senators + Representatives. So, highly populous states like California have a lot of votes (55) while sparsely populated states have few (minimum 3). 

The issue is that in most states, the **winner takes all**. So, no matter *how many* New Yorkers voted for Mitt Romney, more voted for Barack Obama, so all 31 of New York's electoral votes went to Obama. 

Most states in the union have a clear majority of Democrats or a clear majority of Republicans, so year in and year out, you can usually tell early on which states are going to vote which way. So, the election comes down to a few key **swing states**. States whose populations are large enough that they have a worthwhile number of electoral votes and are even enough that they might be persuaded into voting one way or another. 

So, if you don't live in a swing state, your vote doesn't matter because it is already being cast for a candidate of your state's choosing. 

Why do people still vote? Well, the president isn't the only thing voted on. In a federal election, you also have representatives and (sometimes) senators to vote on. States also have their own issues and government positions to vote on.