diff --git a/validation.js b/validation.js
index 965fbf4..58ab741 100644
--- a/validation.js
+++ b/validation.js
@@ -263,7 +263,8 @@ class Validation {
     parseField(fieldInstance) {
         const nameAttrVal = fieldInstance.el.name
 
-        if (this.validateForBlank(fieldInstance)) {
+        if (!fieldInstance.optional && this.validateForBlank(fieldInstance) ||
+           (fieldInstance.optional && fieldInstance.el.value !== '')) {
             switch (fieldInstance.el.type) {
                 case 'checkbox':
                     this.validateCheckbox(fieldInstance, nameAttrVal)
@@ -290,7 +291,7 @@ class Validation {
     }
 
     validateForBlank(fieldInstance) {
-        if (!fieldInstance.el.value && !fieldInstance.optional) {
+        if (!fieldInstance.el.value) {
             this.addError(
                 fieldInstance,
                 (fieldInstance.labelText ? fieldInstance.labelText : `Field`) + ` is required.`
@@ -397,6 +398,8 @@ class Validation {
         } else {
             for (const error of this.errors) {
                 updateMarkup(error)
+                error.isValid = true
+                error.messageOutputted = false
             }
             this.errors.length = 0
         }