PROVIDENCE — Republican Dana Peloso will not be on the ballot this November for the District 67 House seat held by Democrat Jan Malik after the first-time candidate yesterday dropped an appeal with the state that attempted to reverse a local decision to disqualify signatures on his nomination papers.

Barring any unforeseen events, Malik is guaranteed a seventh two-year term representing the district that covers parts of Barrington and Warren because there are no other candidates in the race.

At a meeting of the state Board of Elections yesterday morning in Providence, Peloso, 25, withdrew his objection to a decision by the Barrington Board of Canvassers to disqualify 24 of the 28 signatures his campaign collected in that town. With 33 signatures certified in Warren he had a total of only 37 in the district, well short of the requisite 50.

“I will stand by the Barrington Board of Canvassers’ decision,” he told the Board of Elections in announcing his decision.

However, Peloso complained to the board that the requirement to collect signatures to qualify for the ballot is unnecessary and flawed.

“I believe that the signature process is disenfranchising for the voters,” he said. “I believe that November should be when they decide.”

Board chairman John Daluz told Peloso that if he is elected to the General Assembly someday, he could look then to changing state law.

After the meeting, Peloso said he decided to drop the case on Saturday after looking over the list of signatures he submitted to the Barrington Board of Canvassers. He confirmed the board’s finding July 16 that most of the signatures did not match those on voter registration cards stored in Town Hall.

Peloso said he phoned the individuals whose signatures were in question and they told him that they did indeed sign the papers. But he acknowledged that the signatures were different.

“I couldn’t dispute it,” he said. “There was a vast difference between the two.”

He reiterated that he did nothing wrong, saying that the signatures were collected while he was campaigning door-to-door. He said he watched people sign their names.

But he said he was told by the Board of Elections last week that unless he could have those people come to the meeting to verify that they had signed the papers, no more signatures would be certified.

None of the people were there. Peloso was accompanied to the meeting by his campaign manager, Barry Lucier, and state GOP Chairman Giovanni Cicione.

Meanwhile, the Warren Board of Canvassers is still set to meet this afternoon to discuss allegations of false signatures on the nomination papers Peloso returned in that town. The board disqualified a number of Peloso’s signatures last week.

The board will consider whether to proceed with complaints from five individuals who say they did not sign Peloso’s papers even though their signatures were submitted by the candidate, according to chairman Vinny Calenda.

“I have no choice but to follow up on these complaints,” said Calenda, who was at the Board of Elections meeting yesterday.

Peloso, a 2008 graduate of Roger Williams University and a former head of the school’s College Republicans, announced in May that he would run against Malik, the chairman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee and a member of the influential House Finance Committee.

Despite the mishaps in his campaign, Peloso said he would run again.

“Absolutely,” he said.

akuffner@projo.com