diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 09afec3..89b6fa3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ jobs:
             exit 1
           fi
 
+          # actions/checkout resolves a tag event to its commit. Fetch the tag ref
+          # explicitly so annotated-tag validation examines the remote tag object.
+          git fetch origin "refs/tags/${TAG}:refs/tags/${TAG}" --force
           TAG_TYPE="$(git cat-file -t "refs/tags/${TAG}" 2>/dev/null || true)"
           if [[ "${TAG_TYPE}" != "tag" ]]; then
             echo "Release tag ${TAG} must be an annotated tag object. Found: ${TAG_TYPE:-missing}" >&2
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9da4eae..4c93c1a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Panely follows sparse milestone releases. GitHub Releases are created from semve
 ## [Unreleased]
 
 - Keep upcoming milestone changes here until the release PR adds a versioned section below.
+- Fixed release reruns to refetch and validate the remote annotated tag object after GitHub checkout dereferences it.
 
 ## [v0.7.0] - 2026-07-15 - Frontier Provider Parity
 
diff --git a/scripts/release-policy.test.mjs b/scripts/release-policy.test.mjs
index 29ce31c..d2b8e8c 100644
--- a/scripts/release-policy.test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/release-policy.test.mjs
@@ -59,3 +59,11 @@ test("manual release input reaches Bash only through the environment", () => {
   assert.match(workflow, /TAG="\$\{INPUT_TAG\}"/);
   assert.doesNotMatch(workflow, /TAG="\$\{\{\s*inputs\.tag\s*\}\}"/);
 });
+
+test("release validation explicitly fetches the annotated tag object", () => {
+  const workflow = fs.readFileSync(".github/workflows/release.yml", "utf8");
+  const fetchIndex = workflow.indexOf('git fetch origin "refs/tags/${TAG}:refs/tags/${TAG}" --force');
+  const typeIndex = workflow.indexOf('git cat-file -t "refs/tags/${TAG}"');
+  assert.ok(fetchIndex >= 0, "expected an explicit tag-ref fetch");
+  assert.ok(typeIndex > fetchIndex, "annotated-tag validation must run after the explicit fetch");
+});