diff --git a/src/or/dirvote.c b/src/or/dirvote.c
index 3d23119e51030d6e9900f3e0e34de8cf63791c5e..d44ed7f8c157050a2cdf8bc203c1c02a7ff76ba0 100644
--- a/src/or/dirvote.c
+++ b/src/or/dirvote.c
@@ -1335,7 +1335,7 @@ networkstatus_compute_consensus(smartlist_t *votes,
   smartlist_t *flags;
   const char *flavor_name;
   uint32_t max_unmeasured_bw_kb = DEFAULT_MAX_UNMEASURED_BW_KB;
-  int64_t G=0, M=0, E=0, D=0, T=0; /* For bandwidth weights */
+  int64_t G, M, E, D, T; /* For bandwidth weights */
   const routerstatus_format_type_t rs_format =
     flavor == FLAV_NS ? NS_V3_CONSENSUS : NS_V3_CONSENSUS_MICRODESC;
   char *params = NULL;
@@ -1368,8 +1368,13 @@ networkstatus_compute_consensus(smartlist_t *votes,
   }
 
   if (consensus_method >= MIN_METHOD_FOR_INIT_BW_WEIGHTS_ONE) {
+    /* It's smarter to initialize these weights to 1, so that later on,
+     * we can't accidentally divide by zero. */
     G = M = E = D = 1;
     T = 4;
+  } else {
+    /* ...but originally, they were set to zero. */
+    G = M = E = D = T = 0;
   }
 
   /* Compute medians of time-related things, and figure out how many