If the voters at my polling place had as many issues on the ballot as yours, we’d still be there!
I was an election official that day and ended up manning the single paper ballot machine. By days’ end that one machine had twice as many votes cast as both electronic machines combined. That is how slow the voters were at the electronic machines. It was ridiculous.
You have my complete endorsement of your initial proposal of separate ballots for the federal offices.
But, good sir, how COULD you leave VA ???
I left for a job in Colorado that nearly doubled my pay the first year (1971). After that, there was no looking back. I still love to ski and hike, but @61, I like being around the folks at our local senior center, too. I still get back to VA every once in a while, to see my brother near Charlottesville, but the rest of my siblings moved to North Carolina. Went to a HS class reunion several years ago (class of 69), and my wife and I wowed them with our ballroom skills.