California is governed under a constitution that was framed in 1878–79, a period of rampant graft. It has been revised several times. Amendments instituted by Gov. Hiram Johnson in 1911 included provisions for voter initiative of and referendum on legislation, the recall of elected officials (used to oust a sitting governor in 2003), the direct primary, woman suffrage, and a unique system that allowed candidates to run in primaries of opposing political parties. Before a series of deletions began in 1966, it had grown to be one of the world’s longest governmental constitutions. Since 1962, revisions to the constitution could ...(100 of 10147 words)