diff --git a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-pass.test.ts b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-pass.test.ts
index bd138852e22..5f0fc01f88e 100644
--- a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-pass.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-pass.test.ts
@@ -111,6 +111,22 @@ it('leaves what it ran out of time for owed, with nothing written down', async (
   expect(store.files()).toHaveLength(2)
 })
 
+// A deferred candidate whose row already says `due` is in `stateCounts().due`,
+// which the status adds `left` to; counting it here would report it twice.
+it('leaves a deferred candidate out of the count when its row already says due', async () => {
+  await passOverAll()
+  for (const row of store.files()) {
+    store.setFileState(row.path, 'due')
+  }
+
+  const cut = await runSessionSearchIndexPass(store, await candidates(), {
+    rows: rows(),
+    overdue: () => true
+  })
+
+  expect(cut).toMatchObject({ outOfTime: true, left: 0 })
+})
+
 // The deadline is never applied before the pass has read anything, so a single
 // transcript larger than one deadline is read alone rather than starved.
 it('reads one file even when the deadline has already expired', async () => {
diff --git a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-pass.ts b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-pass.ts
index 3ed11cf8c71..fc0ed0bff22 100644
--- a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-pass.ts
+++ b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-pass.ts
@@ -33,9 +33,11 @@ export type SessionSearchIndexPassOptions = {
  * drop. What the reads themselves leave behind is written by the index consumer
  * onto the rows.
  *
- * `left` is what makes the backlog sayable: a candidate with no row yet is owed
- * a read and counted by no query, so without this the status has no way to tell
- * an index that holds everything from one that has barely started.
+ * `left` is what makes the backlog sayable: a candidate with no row yet, or one
+ * whose row does not say it is owed, is counted by no `due` query, so without
+ * this the status has no way to tell an index that holds everything from one
+ * that has barely started. Candidates whose row is already `due` are left out,
+ * because the status adds `left` to that same count.
  */
 export async function runSessionSearchIndexPass(
   store: SessionSearchStore,
@@ -67,7 +69,11 @@ export async function runSessionSearchIndexPass(
     // count of what a pass left is worth more than the microseconds.
     outOfTime ||= read > 0 && options.overdue?.() === true
     if (outOfTime) {
-      left += 1
+      // A `due` row is already in `stateCounts().due`, which the status adds
+      // this to; counting it here would report the same file twice.
+      if (row?.state !== 'due') {
+        left += 1
+      }
       continue
     }
     // The clock the deadline reads is one the owner may close behind: the read