Considering the Republicans' and Democrats' continual failure to compete with one another, there is no legitimate reason for Florida ballot-access laws to suppress voters' choice and political competition. Minor parties and independent candidates must collect valid petition signatures from three percent of ALL registered voters in the area of an office sought, just to get on the ballot for a given office. If they have the money to pay the qualifying fee, they must pay it also. Regardless, the law forces them to collect stacks of signatures from harried potential voters on confusingly worded petitions. This is blatant, unjustifiable protection of political turf through discrimination against political minorities.
Voters are the ones who suffer.
Gathering these signatures, long before an election, is not exactly a popularity-enhancing way to start political campaigns. People just want to be left alone, especially by politicians. Obviously, they are either unwilling or unable to recruit and field competing candidates about half the time. There is still no two-party clause in the Constitution. A 'choice' of one thing is still no choice at all.