diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 7d97b752f..73aad0d6f 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Authors@R: c(
      comment="Animint2 GSoC 2025"),
     person("Gaurav", "Chaudhary",
      role="ctb",
-     comment="Remove unused css.file parameter; fix issue #233 selector values; fix issue #273 update_axes tick font-size; fix issue #276 update_axes transition duration"),
+     comment="GSOC 2026"),
     person("Nandani", "Aggarwal",
      role="ctb",
      comment="Removed geom_dotplot and replaced with error"))
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 7c10aef35..7d3d8c548 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 
 - `geom_dotplot()` has been removed. Use `geom_point()` instead for interactive visualizations. (Fixed #289)
 
+# Changes in version 2026.3.2 (PR#306)
+
+- `animint.js`: Remove redundant `Selectors.hasOwnProperty` checks and use a shared `selector_has_duration()` helper (issue #278, PR#306).
+
 # Changes in version 2025.12.4 (PR#277)
 
 - `update_axes`: Fix issue #276 where transition duration was hardcoded to 1000ms. Now it respects the selector's duration.
diff --git a/inst/htmljs/animint.js b/inst/htmljs/animint.js
index 3bc738f87..382df8962 100644
--- a/inst/htmljs/animint.js
+++ b/inst/htmljs/animint.js
@@ -101,6 +101,12 @@ var animint = function (to_select, json_file) {
     return safe_name(selector_name) + "_variable";
   }
 
+  // selector_name can be null for geoms without a selector (initial render via update_geom(g, null)).
+  function selector_has_duration(name) {
+    return name &&
+      Selectors[name].hasOwnProperty("duration");
+  }
+
   function is_interactive_aes(v_name){
     if(v_name.indexOf("clickSelects") > -1){
       return true;
@@ -1642,7 +1648,7 @@ var animint = function (to_select, json_file) {
           eActions = function(groups) {
             // Handle transitions seperately due to unique structure of geom_label_aligned
             var transitionDuration = 0;
-            if (Selectors.hasOwnProperty(selector_name)) {
+            if(selector_has_duration(selector_name)){
               transitionDuration = +Selectors[selector_name].duration || 0;
             }
             groups.each(function(d) {
@@ -1938,7 +1944,7 @@ var animint = function (to_select, json_file) {
           positionTooltip(tooltip, tooltip.html());
         });
     }
-    if(Selectors.hasOwnProperty(selector_name)){
+    if(selector_has_duration(selector_name)){
       var milliseconds = Selectors[selector_name].duration;
       elements = elements.transition().duration(milliseconds);
     }
@@ -2086,7 +2092,7 @@ var animint = function (to_select, json_file) {
     // update existing axis
     var xyaxis_sel = element.select("#"+viz_id+"_"+p_name).select("."+axes+"axis_"+panel_i);
     var milliseconds = 0;
-    if(v_name && Selectors.hasOwnProperty(v_name) && Selectors[v_name].hasOwnProperty("duration")){
+    if(selector_has_duration(v_name)){
       milliseconds = Selectors[v_name].duration;
     }
     var xyaxis_g = xyaxis_sel
@@ -2163,9 +2169,6 @@ var animint = function (to_select, json_file) {
   }
 
   var update_selector = function (v_name, value) {
-    if(!Selectors.hasOwnProperty(v_name)){
-      return;
-    }
     value = value + "";
     var s_info = Selectors[v_name];
     if(s_info.type == "single"){