This question is not about recharacterizing a traditional to a Roth, nor is it about undoing a recharacterized Roth back to a traditional IRA.
If I opened an original Roth IRA account, can I recharacterize it as a traditional IRA? Seems like this shouldn't be a problem to do before annual tax return deadlines, but I have not seen this exact issue addressed much online.
The situation where this can be fruitful is where one exceeds the Roth income limit but wishes to take advantage of the "backdoor" Roth. By converting the Roth to a traditional, not taking any deduction for the contributions, and then later converting back to a Roth, it seems one can avoid the paperwork and minor penalties on gains of the Roth contributions. For example, the alternative is to "cancel" the Roth, pay minor penalties on the gains, open a new traditional IRA, fund it, then recharacterize the traditional to a Roth.