diff --git a/changelog.txt b/changelog.txt
index c0fdd7b..e8ccba1 100644
--- a/changelog.txt
+++ b/changelog.txt
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 * Improved interactive select validation, now validating also on click (via option or select, inconsistent across browsers); doesn't work in Safari, which doesn't trigger a click event at all on select elements; fixes http://plugins.jquery.com/node/11520
 * Updated to latest form plugin (2.36), fixing http://plugins.jquery.com/node/11487
 * Bind to blur event for equalTo target to revalidate when that target changes, fixes http://plugins.jquery.com/node/11450
+* Simplified select validation, delegating to jQuery's val() method to get the select value; should fix http://plugins.jquery.com/node/11239
 
 1.5.5
 ---
diff --git a/jquery.validate.js b/jquery.validate.js
index 11505db..ee41b47 100644
--- a/jquery.validate.js
+++ b/jquery.validate.js
@@ -889,8 +889,9 @@ $.extend($.validator, {
 				return "dependency-mismatch";
 			switch( element.nodeName.toLowerCase() ) {
 			case 'select':
-				var options = $("option:selected", element);
-				return options.length > 0 && ( element.type == "select-multiple" || ($.browser.msie && !(options[0].attributes['value'].specified) ? options[0].text : options[0].value).length > 0);
+				// could be an array for select-multiple or a string, both are fine this way
+				var val = $(element).val();
+				return val && val.length > 0;
 			case 'input':
 				if ( this.checkable(element) )
 					return this.getLength(value, element) > 0;