diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e43fe82c7..b1b96401b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ Bug Fixes:
    ([#685](https://github.com/Shopify/sarama/pull/685)).
  - Fix a possible tight loop in the consumer
    ([#693](https://github.com/Shopify/sarama/pull/693)).
+ - Fix possible negative partition value from the HashPartitioner
+   ([#709](https://github.com/Shopify/sarama/pull/709)).
 
 #### Version 1.9.0 (2016-05-16)
 
diff --git a/partitioner.go b/partitioner.go
index 892dce6db..3697ca82b 100644
--- a/partitioner.go
+++ b/partitioner.go
@@ -111,8 +111,7 @@ func (p *hashPartitioner) Partition(message *ProducerMessage, numPartitions int3
 	if err != nil {
 		return -1, err
 	}
-	hash := int32(p.hasher.Sum32())
-	partition := hash % numPartitions
+	partition := int32(p.hasher.Sum32()) % numPartitions
 	if partition < 0 {
 		partition = -partition
 	}