Marta Orlowski said she put her voter registration in the mail, postmarked, on Oct. 9, the last possible day. But when she showed up this morning she said the Volusia Supervisor of Elections office had her marked her down as having registered Oct. 10, too late for this election. She put up an argument but was turned away, even for a provisional ballot.

So she called the Florida Secretary of State Office, which oversees elections. They advised her she does, indeed, have the right to a provisional ballot, which will be assessed later, and then counted if her case is proven.

They picked on the wrong person. Orlowski is a former elections judge herself, back in her previous home in Pennsylvania. She made sure to obtain a certificate of mailing and receipt from the post office on her voter registration application.

She’s headed back to cast her provisional ballot, but she’s worried about all the other voters who might have registered on the last day without certifying their letters.

If in doubt, she advised, people should demand a provisional ballot.