So the plan is to request an early ballot, then to take it to your polling place and assume the poll workers won’t follow the process and then you’ll take a picture of your early ballot to somehow own the libs? At least in PA the poll worker will just have you relinquish the unmarked early ballot and then you’ll vote as normal. If you don’t have your ballot then you vote a provisional ballot that is only counted once it’s confirmed your early ballot wasn’t returned. It’s not a hard thing and it’s well understood by poll workers on what to do.
Is it possible that the idea of switching to a different degree, while easier, may be less fulfilling in someway? Often the challenge of a certain thing is what inherently makes it fulfilling, and “solving” that challenge by simply not doing it may not really have addressed the cause.