mama g wrote:{snip} and therefore, in theory, those STEP tickets would be put back in the pool?

It wouldn't put any tickets back in the pool. All it would do is make less people waiting to get one.
STEP is two separate sections- a "have tickets" and a "want tickets" section.
The "
have" section is what people who currently have tickets contribute to (ie: they have "extra" or un-needed tickets & they're using STEP to redistribute them)- it has no connection to how many people want them.
The "
want" section is people waiting for tickets to be contributed. If someone is removed from the "want" pool for any reason (got a ticket, declined a ticket, received a ticket some other way, etc) it does not increase the amount of tickets available, it just lessens the number of people waiting for one.
STEP will help some people (see the posts above), but I wouldn't only rely on it.