Shiles, Bob. "All ‘natives’ among those counted for redistricting." Robesonian [Lumberton, NC] September 4, 2016.
More people have been part of the process for drawing new district lines for the Lumbee Tribal Council elections than are considered members of the Lumbee Tribe. While the usual estimated number of Lumbees is about 55,000, there were more than 65,000 included in the voting districts. During the process, seven new districts were mapped out, pushing the number of total districts from 14 to 21.
According to Larry Townsend, 65,000 was based on the 2010 census data. This data is based on who considers themselves Native Americans.
Many believe that determining the exact number of Native Americans, for Lumbees and other tribes across the nation, is difficult because Native American is too loose of a term.