diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 65f53249b81..59366c5817d 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -141,6 +141,8 @@ New Features
   (yonik, Mark Miller, siren)
   SOLR-3437: Recovery issues a spurious commit to the cluster. (Trym R. Møller via Mark Miller)
   SOLR-2822: Skip update processors already run on other nodes (hossman)
+  SOLR-3582: Our ZooKeeper watchers respond to session events as if they are change events, 
+  creating undesirable side effects. (Trym R. Møller, Mark Miller)
 
 * SOLR-1566: Transforming documents in the ResponseWriters.  This will allow
   for more complex results in responses and open the door for function queries
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/LeaderElector.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/LeaderElector.java
index b26bab5c8e8..12dd86fbe38 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/LeaderElector.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/LeaderElector.java
@@ -30,12 +30,12 @@ import org.apache.solr.common.SolrException;
 import org.apache.solr.common.cloud.SolrZkClient;
 import org.apache.solr.common.cloud.ZkCmdExecutor;
 import org.apache.solr.common.cloud.ZooKeeperException;
-import org.apache.solr.core.SolrCore;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.CreateMode;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException.ConnectionLossException;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.WatchedEvent;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.Watcher;
+import org.apache.zookeeper.Watcher.Event.EventType;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -115,6 +115,11 @@ public  class LeaderElector {
               
               @Override
               public void process(WatchedEvent event) {
+                // session events are not change events,
+                // and do not remove the watcher
+                if (EventType.None.equals(event.getType())) {
+                  return;
+                }
                 // am I the next leader?
                 try {
                   checkIfIamLeader(seq, context, true);
diff --git a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/common/cloud/ZkStateReader.java b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/common/cloud/ZkStateReader.java
index 73be0b7a285..d3bfac6e91e 100644
--- a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/common/cloud/ZkStateReader.java
+++ b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/common/cloud/ZkStateReader.java
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ import java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
 
-
 import org.apache.noggit.CharArr;
 import org.apache.noggit.JSONParser;
 import org.apache.noggit.JSONWriter;
@@ -42,6 +41,7 @@ import org.apache.solr.common.util.ByteUtils;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.WatchedEvent;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.Watcher;
+import org.apache.zookeeper.Watcher.Event.EventType;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -180,6 +180,11 @@ public class ZkStateReader {
         
         @Override
         public void process(WatchedEvent event) {
+          // session events are not change events,
+          // and do not remove the watcher
+          if (EventType.None.equals(event.getType())) {
+            return;
+          }
           log.info("A cluster state change has occurred");
           try {
             
@@ -223,6 +228,11 @@ public class ZkStateReader {
             
             @Override
             public void process(WatchedEvent event) {
+              // session events are not change events,
+              // and do not remove the watcher
+              if (EventType.None.equals(event.getType())) {
+                return;
+              }
               log.info("Updating live nodes");
               try {
                 // delayed approach