diff --git a/Lib/selectors.py b/Lib/selectors.py
index a9a0801ef0713b..a8bd309f70fd58 100644
--- a/Lib/selectors.py
+++ b/Lib/selectors.py
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ def fileno(self):
         def select(self, timeout=None):
             if timeout is None:
                 timeout = -1
-            elif timeout <= 0:
+            elif timeout < -1:
                 timeout = 0
             else:
                 # epoll_wait() has a resolution of 1 millisecond, round away