diff --git a/packages/seacas/libraries/ioss/src/exodus/Ioex_ParallelDatabaseIO.C b/packages/seacas/libraries/ioss/src/exodus/Ioex_ParallelDatabaseIO.C
index c5ed3aaa86..545e667181 100644
--- a/packages/seacas/libraries/ioss/src/exodus/Ioex_ParallelDatabaseIO.C
+++ b/packages/seacas/libraries/ioss/src/exodus/Ioex_ParallelDatabaseIO.C
@@ -1385,7 +1385,7 @@ namespace Ioex {
                                  Ioss::Int64Vector &element, Ioss::Int64Vector &sides)
     {
       // Check whether we already populated the element/sides vectors.
-      if (element.empty() && sides.empty() && number_sides > 0) {
+      if (element.empty() && sides.empty()) {
         element.resize(number_sides);
         sides.resize(number_sides);