Most of us have issues with Coldfusion CFSELECT Validation i.e. form submits even though he didnt select an entry from drop down list and you have validation in CFSELECT . Here is the solution to this issue. 1. The validation works only if you have size attribute of cfselect set to a value greater than 1. Here is my code that works <cfselect name="sec_question" required="yes" message="You must select a security question to reset your password." size="2"> <option value="1">What is your mother's maiden name? <option value="2">In what city were you born? <option value="3">What is the title of your favorite book? <option value="4">What is your favorite pet's name? </cfselect> 2. Here are some observations a. I didnt require selected="" attribute inside cfselect b. I didnt require Please select a value i.e. with a space or without space(either way, I tried