Intervening in appointments to a local county elections board isn’t something Ohio’s secretary of state should have to do once, much less twice. But, like it or not, that’s where we are.

Just as he did in 2014, Secretary of State Jon Husted has chosen to seek a new Republican member of the Lucas County Board of Elections to prevent the elections operation here from once again sliding into chaos and acrimony.

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When the board was in disarray three years ago, Mr. Husted used his authority as Ohio’s top elections official to oust three elections board members and replace them with appointees he chose himself. He cited the “culture of dysfunction” at the board.

This led to a nearly two-year stretch during which the board functioned well and the elections department appeared to get better at efficiently managing elections.

That ended last year when local Republican chairman Jon Stainbrook (one of the three board members removed in 2014) nominated Jim Hartley to a vacancy.

Mr. Hartley sowed discontent on the board, almost from day one, and the old dysfunction returned.

After Mr. Husted suspended Mr. Hartley in March — Mr. Hartley attempted to engineer a back-room deal with Democrats to appoint Mr. Stainbrook to a $94,000-a-year job as elections director — a hearing officer recommended that Mr. Husted permanently remove him, citing multiple cases of bad judgment. On Friday, Mr. Husted decided to back the hearing officer and remove Mr. Hartley.

Mr. Husted again interceded in the operation of our local board of elections, which should never have been necessary.

But it was necessary.

It’s crucial that elections be run professionally so that voters can be sure that results are accurate and legitimate. This means the people sitting on the elections board must be able and willing to work with others for the good of the community, and not in the service of party or ego. They cannot behave like petulant middle-schoolers or B-movie partisan hacks.

Mr. Husted’s work is not done. The local GOP, chaired by Mr. Stainbrook, is allowed to nominate Mr. Hartley’s replacement. Mr. Husted can’t accept another disruptive puppet. It’s a good bet that he will not.

First Published April 23, 2017, 4:00 a.m.