diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yaml b/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yaml
index da2b8cfa4b..90bab289f1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yaml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ on:
         type: string
         required: false
       validate:
-        type: boolean
+        type: string
         required: false
       
 env:
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ jobs:
       image: glotzerlab/ci:2024.06.04-${{ inputs.container_prefix }}
       options: ${{ inputs.test_docker_options }} -e CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES
 
-    if: ${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'validate') && inputs.validate }}
+    if: ${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'validate') && inputs.validate == 'true' }}
     steps:
     - name: Clean workspace
       run: ( shopt -s dotglob nullglob; rm -rf ./* )
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests_new.yaml b/.github/workflows/tests_new.yaml
index 91ab07edcc..4b300c2580 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests_new.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests_new.yaml
@@ -35,27 +35,27 @@ jobs:
       test_runner: ${{ matrix.test_runner == '' && 'ubuntu-latest' || toJson(matrix.test_runner) }}
       test_docker_options: ${{ matrix.test_docker_options }}
       # Default to false when unset
-      validate: ${{ matrix.validate == '' && false || matrix.validate }}
+      validate: ${{ matrix.validate == '' && 'false' || matrix.validate }}
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         include:
         - config: [clang14_py311, mpi, tbb, llvm]
-          validate: true
+          validate: 'true'
 
         - config: [gcc13_py312]
-          validate: true
+          validate: 'true'
 
         - config: [cuda120_gcc11_py310, mpi, llvm]
           test_runner: [self-hosted,GPU]
           test_docker_options: '--gpus=all --device /dev/nvidia0 --device /dev/nvidia1 --device /dev/nvidia-uvm --device /dev/nvidia-uvm-tools --device /dev/nvidiactl'
-          validate: true
+          validate: 'true'
 
         - config: [cuda120_gcc11_py310]
           test_runner: [self-hosted,GPU]
           test_docker_options: '--gpus=all --device /dev/nvidia0 --device /dev/nvidia1 --device /dev/nvidia-uvm --device /dev/nvidia-uvm-tools --device /dev/nvidiactl'
-          validate: true
+          validate: 'true'
 
         - config: [gcc13_py312, nomd]
         
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ jobs:
         - config: [cuda120_gcc11_py310, mpi, llvm, debug]
           test_runner: [self-hosted,GPU]
           test_docker_options: '--gpus=all --device /dev/nvidia0 --device /dev/nvidia1 --device /dev/nvidia-uvm --device /dev/nvidia-uvm-tools --device /dev/nvidiactl'
-          validate: false
 
         - config: [gcc9_py39]
 
@@ -81,7 +80,7 @@ jobs:
       test_runner: ${{ matrix.test_runner == '' && 'ubuntu-latest' || toJson(matrix.test_runner) }}
       test_docker_options: ${{ matrix.test_docker_options }}
       # Default to false when unset
-      validate: ${{ matrix.validate == '' && false || matrix.validate }}
+      validate: ${{ matrix.validate == '' && 'false' || matrix.validate }}
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false