So did everyone get today"s message from the US embassy that all legal residents of Ecuador MUST vote on Saturday if they show up in the CNE system, regardless of the numbers of years in country. I have only been here as a resident a little over a year but I checked today and indeed I am in the voting register. If you are in the register but do not vote and thus cannot show your voting certificate when asked, you may have major problems completing legal paperwork in the future. I think that you can pay a fine instead of voting, but I'm not sure of any details about that.