Several well-meaning community college students in Pennsylvania signed what they thought was a petition to legalize marijuana, only to find out later that they were actually registering to vote as Republicans.

"This is just very disheartening," said Plymouth resident Jennifer Fugo, a 24-year-old continuing education student who describes herself as a "victim of voter registration manipulation."

"Everyone is encouraging young people to register and vote and then they experience something like this," Fugo said Monday. "This is just outrageous."

I know the Alliance has Republican supporters. We've even placed full-page ads trying to attract more, and our executive director wrote a couple of great pieces for a top conservative magazine. Drug policy reform is officially a nonpartisan issue.

But the Republicans obviously knew they don't have a lot of marijuana legalizers in their midst, and that's why they chose this particular group for their voter fraud drive. And that's why this is the most subversive thing I've heard in a long time. It's akin to cruising colleges with "petitions to allow logging in national forests" that turn out to be Democrat voter registration forms.

Also, advice to college students out there in swing states: Put down the joint before you pick up that pen to sign something you haven't read.

Update: Apparently something similar is going on in Florida as well.

Update II: And strange things, courtesy of colleague Melissa, are afoot in Ohio.