diff --git a/src/partition/repart.c b/src/partition/repart.c
index 3a4808d6a4a..448513ff4d8 100644
--- a/src/partition/repart.c
+++ b/src/partition/repart.c
@@ -3559,6 +3559,7 @@ static int partition_format_verity_hash(
 
         assert(context);
         assert(p);
+        assert(p->verity == VERITY_HASH);
         assert(data_node);
 
         if (p->dropped)
@@ -3567,9 +3568,6 @@ static int partition_format_verity_hash(
         if (PARTITION_EXISTS(p)) /* Never format existing partitions */
                 return 0;
 
-        if (p->verity != VERITY_HASH)
-                return 0;
-
         if (partition_defer(p))
                 return 0;