The Montgomery County Board of Elections approved the candidacy of Nancy Floreen after she submitted thousands of signatures in order to appear as an independent on the ballot.

WASHINGTON — Voters in Montgomery County, Maryland will see another choice for county executive in November.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections approved the candidacy of Nancy Floreen after she submitted thousands of signatures in order to appear as an independent on the ballot.

Floreen collected more than 20,000 signatures in just 25 days, and more than 13,000 of those were considered valid by the board — well over the threshold of 7,255 needed to be listed as an unaffiliated candidate.

In a statement, Floreen thanked the Board of Elections for the decision, calling it “historic.” Over 400 people had volunteered to collect the signatures.

“The demand for a more inclusive choice was fueled by more than 20,000 people in less than a month,” Floreen said. “We’ve unleashed widespread community support. That’s an obvious and clear desire for balanced, non-partisan leadership for the county.”

With 75 days until the general election, the longtime county councilmember is officially launching her campaign today and will run against Democrat Marc Elrich and Republican Robin Ficker for the county’s top elected position.

Floreen was a Democrat until July, when she declared herself unaffiliated. She said suggestions that she might split the Democratic vote are “silly.”

“Well, I’m going to get a lot of Democratic votes,” Floreen told WTOP, “but this is not going to lift up Mr. Ficker — he’s a gadfly.”

WTOP’s Alejandro Alvarez and John Aaron contributed to this report.