PEMBROKE, June 26 -- The Lumbee Tribe waited 137 years for the federal recognition that would give it the legal right to build a casino. Then its members voted not to build one.

In a special election held Tuesday across 21 voting precincts in Robeson County and by absentee ballot, more than 9,000 enrolled tribal members rejected a constitutional amendment that would have cleared the way for the Lumbee Dark Water Resort and Casino, a proposed development on 240 acres of Interstate 95 land that tribal leaders had quietly purchased months before Congress even finished the recognition bill. CBS17 reported the final count as 5,553 against, 3,363 in favor. Roughly 62 percent voted no.

Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery, who simultaneously serves ...