SEA HAS CHANGED THE RECALL NUMBERS. MEMBERS DESERVE AN EXPLANATION

Petition Update — September 24, 2026

SEA HAS CHANGED THE RECALL NUMBERS. MEMBERS DESERVE AN EXPLANATION.

Today, SEA Interim Executive Director Mary Howes finally provided information about how SEA intends to process our presidential recall petition.

We immediately provided the petition signatures. Mary confirmed receipt.

But Mary's email has created a serious new transparency question.

On August 18, former SEA Transitional Executive Director Greg Alarid gave us SEA's “current official number” of bona fide active members as of August 7:

5,719 members.

Greg told us that the corresponding 10% recall threshold was:

572 signatures.

Today, Mary gave us a very different number.

She says SEA will use 6,261 dues-paying members as of August 24 to determine the recall threshold.

That is 542 additional members in just 17 days—an increase of approximately 9.5%.

How did SEA's membership count go from 5,719 to 6,261 between August 7 and August 24?

Members deserve an answer.

And there is another problem.

Mary wrote:
“6,261 x 10% = 621.”

It doesn't.
10% of 6,261 is 626.1.

So before SEA determines whether this member-initiated petition has satisfied the required threshold, SEA needs to explain:

Where did the 6,261 figure come from?
Why is it 542 members higher than the official figure Greg provided only 17 days earlier?
And why does SEA's stated 10% calculation not mathematically correspond to the membership number it provided?

There is also still no detailed written protocol explaining how individual signatures will be matched, challenged, resolved, or rejected.

Mary says six SEA Board members will participate in verification alongside Mary and SEA staff, with SEA member observers permitted.

Good. Members should be able to observe this process.

But observation is meaningful only if everyone knows the rules.

We want SEA to disclose, before completing verification:

the source of the August 24 membership count;
the correct 10% threshold;
the rules for matching petition signatures against membership records;
how our separate member Signature Attestations will be considered;
how ambiguous or unmatched signatures will be handled;
and whether a disputed signature can be reviewed before being rejected.

We are not asking SEA to count an ineligible signature.

We are asking SEA to establish the denominator correctly, do the math correctly, and tell members the rules before determining which signatures count.

Mary has confirmed something else that is extremely important: SEA considers August 24 the beginning of the recall timeline, and her stated process provides for a recall-election GMM by October 23, 2026, if the verified petition meets the threshold.

The petition has been delivered.

The signatures have been delivered.

Receipt has been confirmed.

Now SEA needs to show its work.

Explain the changing membership numbers. Correct or explain the math. Publish the verification rules. Conduct a transparent count.