# Canadian and US Dopers: How many would meet the "need four native-born grandparents to vote" test? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395 "2016-11-19T02:17:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/21 "2016-11-19T05:39:20Z")
Both paternal grandparents born in The Netherlands, so I’m out. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/22 "2016-11-19T05:39:59Z")
One thing about parents from hick Midwestern “communities” (mother’s birthplace isn’t even a village): First generation immigrants ALL have better options than following cow paths until even those peter out. Which is where these places came from. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/23 "2016-11-19T05:57:07Z")
I couldn’t vote, and my cousins on my father’s side couldn’t, but my father and his brother could both vote. My husband could vote, but my brother’s wife couldn’t. My son could. None of my maternal cousins could, but all their children but one could, albeit, two don’t have children, and their mother was not born here. None of my maternal cousins could. My maternal grandparents could not, but my paternal grandfather possibly could, I’m not sure. His biological father died when he was five, and he was raised by his stepfather, and uses SF’s name. My maternal grandmother and all her parents could. Her branch of the family has been here forever. I’m the product, by way of a sinister bend, that came over on the Mayflower; the Jews who opened the very first synagogue in the Americas; had relatives fight in the Revolutionary War; and apparently both sides of the Civil War (my _direct_ ancestors fought for the North). ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/24 "2016-11-19T06:03:23Z")
Not only could I vote in US elections, I could vote for governor here in California. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/25 "2016-11-19T06:30:52Z")
“Four American lastnames”, Christ… I’m from a place where something similar was used 3 centuries ago, in the form of “you have to prove that all four of your grandparents are descended from people who attended Parliament at some point, last Parliament session having been held ~250 years ago” (it didn’t work; the king went up to 8 great-grandparents and that still didn’t work) and if it came back I wouldn’t be able to vote: my mother is from a different region and some of her ancestors are from other countries. I suspect that, like with Felipe V’s aforementioned _probanzas_, most of the people who have 4 American/Canadian grandparents will also be a keeper if you go up yet another generation: their bloodlines moved there before the 20th century’s great migrations. I wonder if the people proposing that realize there are chicanos viejos, Hispanics whose families have been in the SW since before the area was part of the US. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/26 "2016-11-19T06:52:22Z")
I’d be able to vote, and so would my parents and, I’m pretty sure, all four of my grandparents. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/27 "2016-11-19T06:56:39Z")
On my dad’s side, there are lines that trace to DAR/SAR and that boat that gets mentioned next week. My maternal grandparents were also born in the US, though grandad’s parents were fresh over from Sweden. Ridiculous notion, though. If you are a resident, you should be able to vote. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/28 "2016-11-19T07:16:17Z")
All four of my grandparents were born in the US. In fact, the line through my paternal grandfather dates back to the Colonial days, living in upstate New York from at least the early 1600s. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/29 "2016-11-19T07:18:58Z")
All four of my grandparents were born in the U.S., but if we had to go back one more generation, I’d be out; both of my paternal grandmother’s parents had emigrated to Wisconsin from Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/30 "2016-11-19T08:05:33Z")
Neither of my grandfathers were born in the US. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/31 "2016-11-19T08:08:53Z")
All four born in the US. This meme came from Ann Coulter who said that if only people who had all four grandparents born in the US, Trump would win overwhelmingly. People then pointed out that Trump himself wouldn’t be allowed to vote under that system. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/32 "2016-11-19T10:47:25Z")
No vote for me. Three of my grandparents were born here, and in fact all three had ancestors who immigrated here in the 1600s. But my paternal grandfather was born in Germany in 1891 and immigrated with his family at the ripe old age of 17 months. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/33 "2016-11-19T10:52:12Z")
My father’s parents came over from West Galway at the turn of the last century–they met & married here. I think. Don’t remember my father but I have the flag draped over his casket at the wake. Red, White & Blue. So I’m out. My mother’s side of the family goes back farther. To Famine Era immigrants. And a few much farther–from the more Northern part of that island before the American Revolution. The return of the Know Nothing Party! ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/34 "2016-11-19T11:38:21Z")
You’re not surveying us specifically, but speaking from _another_ country with a strong history of immigration, I think if you brought this in in Australia, only about a third of us could vote. Nearly a third of us all were born outside the country, and half have an o/s-born parent, so I think number with an o/s-born grandparent is probably about two-thirds. On the plus side, a measure like this would sure help with Indigenous influence on public affairs. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/35 "2016-11-19T12:38:15Z")
All four born in the US, but I couldn’t prove it: neither of my dad’s parents had birth certificates, and the family bible is long gone. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/36 "2016-11-19T14:19:57Z")
I don’t know where my fathers parents were born and I don’t know where my mothers mom was born, but my mothers dad was born in Cuba, so I don’t get to vote. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/37 "2016-11-19T14:34:52Z")
My dad’s parents could vote if they were still alive. My mom’s dad was a detainee here at the outbreak of the Great War. He wasn’t allowed to return home but was allowed free travel (so the family legend goes.) His brothers and a generation later his nephews fought on the losing side of those wars. Mom’s mom was a 1st generation American with a strong German accent. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/38 "2016-11-19T14:36:54Z")
Depends what you mean by ‘native born’…My grandparents were born in Newfoundland, which wasn’t part of Canada at the time. If you’d count NL, then yes, I could. But my brother (adopted) couldn’t, having an Indian father. My mother couldn’t, since her grandfather was born in Scotland. I don’t know about my father’s family beyond his parents, so can’t say. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/39 "2016-11-19T14:37:30Z")
Father immigrated from merry old England, so no, that wouldn’t get me the franchise! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395/40 "2016-11-19T14:37:38Z")
Not me. My parents are both immigrants. My kids have two grandparents in the US. My sister and her husband weren’t born here, so her grandkids would have to wait longer than mine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-and-us-dopers-how-many-would-meet-the-need-four-native-born-grandparents-to-vote-test/772395.md?page=3)