October 10, 1911 On this day in 1911, Proposition 4 was approved by California voters during a special election, making California the sixth state to grant women the right to vote in state and local elections. Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Washington had previously adopted legislation granting women’s suffrage. Proposition 4, a legislatively referred state constitutional amendment, passed with a narrow margin with just 50.7% approval. Sacramento County passed the proposition with 51.5% approval and Los Angeles with 55.2% approval while San Francisco County, the county with the lowest level of support, rejected the proposition with almost 62% disapproval. The women’s suffrage movement in California began in the 1860s with the formation of small suffrage groups throughout the state. The campaign grew over the years, especially after the formation of the California Woman Suffrage Association in 1870. In 1893, Governor Henry Markham vetoed a bill to extend suffrage to women. How...