As the historic and unprecedented presidential election drama that began Nov. 7 continues to play itself out in Florida, military personnel and other Americans living abroad who list Florida as their state of residence increasingly see their voices as not only relevant, but very likely the decisive factor in determining the next president.

Many overseas military personnel, however, continue to say they have been "cheated" out of their vote -- due to their absentee ballots either arriving late or never arriving at all.

WorldNetDaily has received an enormous amount of e-mail from military families overseas, or their stateside relatives, complaining that the service personnel did not receive absentee ballots they had requested. A number of WND's military readers have specifically reported that their ballots were sent fourth class "bulk mail" -- which in some cases delays delivery by a month or more -- instead of first class.

In fact, one former U.S. Navy officer who served as the postal officer aboard two warships -- and who asked not to be identified for this report -- said, "If military units are missing ballots or absentee voting supplies, it is because they were mailed bulk mail."

As the postal officer, he said he could attest to the fact that "the [military postal] system in place for military mail movement is excellent and, in many cases, it took longer to move mail from the military mail hub in New York City to Virginia than it took to move mail from [warships] in remote areas to the U.S."

The now-retired officer said overseas military mail traveling in fourth-class bulk is put in containers at fleet post office centers in New York City and elsewhere that have "to be filled before they are sealed and shipped. These can be containers that travel ... literally [on] slow boats to the U.S. or overseas destinations," the officer said.

A reader in Heidelberg, Germany, who is married to a U.S. Army colonel, had applied for absentee ballots "by the end of September." Yet by Oct. 24, they still had not arrived, so she called her county clerk in the U.S. to see if they had been sent out.

According to the reader, she was told the ballots had been sent Oct. 19, but "by the 28th we still didn't have [them]."

With time growing short, she then went to the Army post office and asked if the clerk there knew anything about the couple's ballots.

"The soldier went to look and came back with them," the reader told WorldNetDaily. "She said that she had found them in bulk mail, which is where the magazines and newspapers are kept. Our magazines and newspaper are always months late, as the post office is understaffed."

"Absentee ballot envelopes were clearly marked as such and should not have been filed in bulk mail," she said. "They were small enough to fit into our post office box and should have been placed with our letters and bills."

She and her husband filled out the ballots and mailed them the next day, "return receipt requested," she said.

"Today is Nov. 11 and we have yet to receive the return receipt," she said, "so I do not know if our ballots arrived" in the U.S.

"I have talked to several persons over here, both military and civilian, who were having a hard time receiving their absentee ballots," she added. "Several soldiers who work at Campbell Barracks have not received their absentee ballots."

"I am wondering why nothing was done to let anyone know where their ballots were and if they were placed there [in bulk mail] on purpose," she said.

While most of the affected military personnel are understandably outraged at their ballots allegedly being sent by the "slow boat," some critics see a motive at work -- a tactic by a Democrat administration designed to deny servicemen and women their right to vote, since it is widely assumed based on past elections that most overseas military votes will end up in the Republican column. Although there is no proof of anything of the sort, the idea seems logical enough to servicemen who feel they have been devalued for the last eight years.

In fact, some American military families in Germany are reportedly flying the American flag upside down -- a traditional sign of distress -- at their places of residence, as a result of the presidential election and the subsequent balloting difficulties. In some cases, local military police have forced personnel to take the inverted flags down.

Meanwhile, Oregonian Judy Krutsinger tells WorldNetDaily that her brother-in-law, stationed on board the USS Tarawa near Yemen, reports that "thousands" of ballots are still sitting in mailbags aboard a U.S. Navy warship. He says they were never picked up, though mail recently has been delivered to the same warship.

Krutsinger alleges that the Pentagon had contacted Florida election officials to inform them that mail from all area warships had been picked up Nov. 7, but that her relative aboard the Tarawa denies that.

"We e-mailed [our relative] aboard ship about that. ... [H]e e-mailed back saying [the mailbags] are still onboard," Krutsinger told WorldNetDaily. She said the mail was contained in orange bags on 17 pallets and that "ballots were not separated from regular mail, as they should have been."

WorldNetDaily attempted to contact the Pentagon and Florida election officials regarding her claims but had received no response by press time.

Krutsinger -- who said e-mail aboard the Tarawa has since been "shut down" -- told WND that she had been in contact with the Bush campaign, who in turn contacted the Florida secretary of state's office about the matter. However, she couldn't say what Bush campaign officials had done with the information or whether the secretary of state's staff was acting on the matter.

WorldNetDaily was unable to obtain comment on the allegation from the Bush campaign.

• If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please take part in the WorldNetDaily poll.

Related stories:

Military missing absentee ballots

Bacon denies WND military-ballot report

Will Congress probe military-ballot snafu?