diff --git a/rust/agents/validator/src/submit.rs b/rust/agents/validator/src/submit.rs
index 9b787577d..6bb57e9e3 100644
--- a/rust/agents/validator/src/submit.rs
+++ b/rust/agents/validator/src/submit.rs
@@ -133,18 +133,6 @@ impl ValidatorSubmitter {
     }
 
     pub(crate) async fn legacy_checkpoint_submitter(self) -> Result<()> {
-        // Ensure that the mailbox has > 0 messages before we enter the main
-        // validator submit loop. This is to avoid an underflow / reverted
-        // call when we invoke the `mailbox.latest_checkpoint()` method,
-        // which returns the **index** of the last element in the tree
-        // rather than just the size.  See
-        // https://github.com/hyperlane-network/hyperlane-monorepo/issues/575 for
-        // more details.
-        while self.mailbox.count(self.reorg_period).await? == 0 {
-            info!("Waiting for first message to mailbox");
-            sleep(self.interval).await;
-        }
-
         // current_index will be None if the validator cannot find
         // a previously signed checkpoint
         let mut current_index = self.checkpoint_syncer.latest_index().await?;
diff --git a/rust/agents/validator/src/validator.rs b/rust/agents/validator/src/validator.rs
index 17afe4d67..585712eb5 100644
--- a/rust/agents/validator/src/validator.rs
+++ b/rust/agents/validator/src/validator.rs
@@ -105,6 +105,21 @@ impl BaseAgent for Validator {
     async fn run(&self) -> Instrumented<JoinHandle<Result<()>>> {
         self.announce().await.expect("Failed to announce validator");
 
+        let reorg_period = NonZeroU64::new(self.reorg_period);
+
+        // Ensure that the mailbox has count > 0 before we begin indexing
+        // messages or submitting checkpoints.
+        while self
+            .mailbox
+            .count(reorg_period)
+            .await
+            .expect("Failed to get count of mailbox")
+            == 0
+        {
+            info!("Waiting for first message to mailbox");
+            sleep(self.interval).await;
+        }
+
         let mut tasks = vec![];
 
         tasks.push(self.run_message_sync().await);
@@ -146,28 +161,27 @@ impl Validator {
         );
 
         let empty_tree = IncrementalMerkle::default();
-        let lag = NonZeroU64::new(self.reorg_period);
+        let reorg_period = NonZeroU64::new(self.reorg_period);
         let tip_tree = self
             .mailbox
-            .tree(lag)
+            .tree(reorg_period)
             .await
             .expect("failed to get mailbox tree");
-        let mut tasks = vec![];
+        assert!(tip_tree.count() > 0, "mailbox tree is empty");
+        let backfill_target = submitter.checkpoint(&tip_tree);
 
         let legacy_submitter = submitter.clone();
+        let backfill_submitter = submitter.clone();
 
-        if tip_tree.count() > 0 {
-            let backfill_target = submitter.checkpoint(&tip_tree);
-            let backfill_submitter = submitter.clone();
-            tasks.push(
-                tokio::spawn(async move {
-                    backfill_submitter
-                        .checkpoint_submitter(empty_tree, Some(backfill_target))
-                        .await
-                })
-                .instrument(info_span!("BackfillCheckpointSubmitter")),
-            );
-        }
+        let mut tasks = vec![];
+        tasks.push(
+            tokio::spawn(async move {
+                backfill_submitter
+                    .checkpoint_submitter(empty_tree, Some(backfill_target))
+                    .await
+            })
+            .instrument(info_span!("BackfillCheckpointSubmitter")),
+        );
 
         tasks.push(
             tokio::spawn(async move { submitter.checkpoint_submitter(tip_tree, None).await })
@@ -222,6 +236,7 @@ impl Validator {
                         validator_address=?announcement.validator,
                         "Please send tokens to the validator address to announce",
                     );
+                    sleep(self.interval).await;
                 } else {
                     let outcome = self
                         .validator_announce
@@ -235,7 +250,6 @@ impl Validator {
                     }
                 }
             }
-            sleep(self.interval).await;
         }
         Ok(())
     }
diff --git a/rust/utils/run-locally/src/main.rs b/rust/utils/run-locally/src/main.rs
index ad03bd9d2..2277a618d 100644
--- a/rust/utils/run-locally/src/main.rs
+++ b/rust/utils/run-locally/src/main.rs
@@ -373,7 +373,29 @@ fn main() -> ExitCode {
     state.watchers.push(scraper_stderr);
     state.scraper = Some(scraper);
 
-    // Send half the kathy messages before starting the agents
+    let mut validator_iter = validator_envs.iter();
+
+    // spawn 1st validator before any messages have been sent to test empty mailbox
+    let validator1_env = validator_iter.next().unwrap();
+    let (validator, validator_stdout, validator_stderr) = run_agent(
+        "validator",
+        &common_env
+            .clone()
+            .into_iter()
+            .chain(validator1_env.clone())
+            .collect(),
+        &[],
+        "VAL1",
+        log_all,
+        &log_dir,
+    );
+    state.watchers.push(validator_stdout);
+    state.watchers.push(validator_stderr);
+    state.validators.push(validator);
+
+    sleep(Duration::from_secs(5));
+
+    // Send half the kathy messages before starting the rest of the agents
     let mut kathy = Command::new("yarn");
     kathy
         .arg("kathy")
@@ -392,7 +414,8 @@ fn main() -> ExitCode {
     state.watchers.push(kathy_stderr);
     kathy.wait().unwrap();
 
-    for (i, validator_env) in validator_envs.iter().enumerate() {
+    // spawn the rest of the validators
+    for (i, validator_env) in validator_iter.enumerate() {
         let (validator, validator_stdout, validator_stderr) = run_agent(
             "validator",
             &common_env