California Ratifies the 19th Amendment, November 1, 1919

In the 1800s California suffragists proposed several suffrage bills to the state legislature. They almost had success in 1893 when the legislature passed a suffrage bill, but the governor vetoed it. A popular referendum in 1896 also defeated women’s suffrage, largely due to voters fearing women would pass temperance laws. Suffrage organizations advocated for the vote until in 1911 another referendum narrowly passed and gave California women the vote. The vote held on October 10, 1911 initially looked as if the motion would be defeated, but as the count came in from rural counties the measure passed by only 3,587 votes. California became the 6^th state to grant suffrage to women and in 1918 the first four women were elected to the California State Assembly. California ratified the 19^th Amendment on November 1, 1919. 

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Cooney, Robert P. J., Jr. "A Brief Summary of the 1911 Campaign." California Women Suffrage Centennial. Accessed June 30, 2021. https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/celebrating-womens-suffrage/california-women-suffrage-centennial.

"History of Women's Suffrage in California." Votes for Women: Celebrating 100 Years of the Nineteenth Amendment (1920-2020). California State Archives. Accessed June 30, 2021. https://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/women-get-right-vote/history-womens-suffrage-california.