Does my vote count as much as yours?

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately – does my vote count as much as someone who lives in a so-called “battleground state?” In fact, many people that I know have that question. The problem is the electoral college. Alabama has 9 votes. I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, because states like the Dakotas and Montana only get 3 votes, but it is still somewhat disheartening. In the state of Alabama, whoever wins the popular vote gets all 9 electoral college votes. So even if one candidate only wins by a small margin, they still “win” the state of Alabama. But if the other guy wins Florida by a small margin, he gets their 27 electoral college votes. I don’t pretend to know much about politics, but it seems to me that votes in Florida or California (they have 50-something there) count more than my vote here in pitiful, unimportant Alabama. Why? Why do we have the electoral college anyway? I am not really sure, although I have looked. It doesn’t really make sense, especially considering the fact that all states except Nebraska and Maine are “winner takes all.” In Nebraska and Maine, the candidates get electoral college votes in proportion to the number of popular votes that they get. Which makes a little bit more sense. But still, why have it at all? Why not just go with the popular vote? Does anyone else feel as frustrated about this as I do?