Absentee voters

Since I was an absentee voter for my election at home I was interested how much impact absentee voters outside the US may have

LexisNexis has numbers (article published 2004)
http://www.lexisnexis.com/about/releases/0729.asp

The article states:
"Sources vary when it comes to quantifying the number of eligible American voters abroad. The non-partisan Center for Voting and Democracy says 2 million to 3 million expatriates are eligible voters. Federal officials say roughly 6 million Americans overseas are eligible to vote: 3.2 million private expatriates; 1.4 million members of the armed forces and 1.3 million of their relatives; and about 200,000 State Department workers and other government employees."

......no matter if the lower or higher estimation is closer to the true number - I think it is still pretty impressive.
LexisNexis even describes the political affiliation of certain groups of US voters abroad (e.g. military personnel etc.)

It means that for the presidential election absentee voters indeed count....especially when the race is close!