OK, I got it done. No problems and I drilled within 1/4" of the edge in a couple of spots.
What I did was probably overkill. I drilled the holes through a piece of
1/4" plywood cut to the size of the panel. Then I mad a sandwich of the drilled plywood, two pieces of thin plexiglass, and another piece of plywood. I drilled the holes with brad point bits in a drill press set for 500 rpm.Then I taped the two pieces of plexiglass together with the computer- generated diagram between, used an Xacto knife to cut the holes in the paper diagram, and added the switches and lamps.
Now all I have to do is put a wood frame around it and add it to the layout.