MIAMI -- The Florida elections board rejected Janet Reno's request Friday for a statewide recount in the gubernatorial primary, but the secretary of state said counties can continue searching for uncounted votes that could erase Bill McBride's lead.

Secretary of State Jim Smith said there wouldn't be recounts, but newly found votes can be submitted by counties with updated totals next week.

"Whatever those totals are, at that time, will, at that time, determine whoever the winner is," Smith said.

Reno's campaign attorney Alan Greer said the decision was "not surprising under the circumstances." He predicted the board could change its mind after looking at revised numbers from counties.

Reno has said she doesn't want to challenge the election results, and Greer all but eliminated the possibility of a lawsuit.

"I do not foresee a set of circumstances where we will be filing litigation," Greer said. "She does not want to freeze the Democratic party."

Reno needs a clear victory when final results come in Tuesday. The state will not order a recount no matter how close the race is.

Had the candidates been within .5 percent of each other in the unofficial count, which shows McBride ahead by 8,196 votes, an automatic recount would have occurred.

After Wednesday, the candidates have 10 days to challenge in court.

McBride, a political newcomer, declared victory Thursday. But Reno, the former Clinton attorney general, said there were discrepancies in at least 80 Miami-Dade County precincts and elsewhere.

Possible missed votes

Using Reno's list of questionable precincts in Miami-Dade and factoring in the voter turnout of 32.7 percent, up to 8,000 votes could have been missed, according to a computer analysis by The Associated Press. Since Reno won about 70 percent of the county vote, she could presumably pick up more votes than needed.

Miami-Dade officials said they would not release details about the recollection of votes from voting machines until Tuesday, the state deadline. They were examining machines, including those in precincts where Reno workers questioned low turnout.

In one precinct, computers registered 900 percent more votes than there were eligible voters, while no votes were recorded in several precincts with thousands of voters.

Miami-Dade's elections chief David Leahy has said workers examined four polling stations that originally showed a total of 96 votes. The review boosted the total to 1,914 votes, although officials didn't say who got the votes.

The 80 precincts targeted by Reno reported a total of 1,952 votes cast. Those precincts had 31,375 registered Democrats.

If those precincts matched the countywide turnout, they would have produced 10,260 votes, more than five times the number that were reported, according to an AP analysis.

In a recollection, officials insert an "activator" in the voting machines, downloading the results and uploading them to a computer. The recollection is expected to take much of the weekend.

In neighboring Broward County, which also went heavily for Reno, officials were auditing results from one precinct with more than 800 voters that showed 0 percent turnout. Reno asked officials in Broward to review as many as 200 precincts.

She said she would only concede after the review process.

"My whole purpose is to get the votes counted and to let the votes speak -- not Janet Reno speak -- but let the votes speak," she said. "That's what the democratic process is all about."