jquery validate date in range or empty, it is not allowed to submit empty date <p>I used the jquery validation to check a range of date or allow an empty date with under jquery mask. It is passed on editing, but the empty date field still prompt "Require" on form submit, what can I do?</p> <pre><code>$.validator.addMethod("daterange", function(value, element) { var ymd = value.split("/"); var d = new Date(ymd[0], ymd[1]-1,ymd[2]); var startDate = Date.parse('2015/01/01'), endDate = Date.parse('2100/12/31'), enteredDate = Date.parse(value); if(value=="____/__/__") return true; else if (isNaN(enteredDate)) return false; else if (d.getFullYear() == ymd[0] &amp;&amp; d.getMonth() == ymd[1]-1 &amp;&amp; d.getDate() == ymd[2]) return ((startDate &lt;= enteredDate) &amp;&amp; (enteredDate &lt;= endDate)); else return false; },"Invalid Date" ); d1_eff_date : { required: false, daterange:true}, </code></pre>