diff --git a/app/controllers/comment_votes_controller.rb b/app/controllers/comment_votes_controller.rb
index 835412677..1cd22afd1 100644
--- a/app/controllers/comment_votes_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/comment_votes_controller.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ class CommentVotesController < ApplicationController
     @comment_vote = @comment.vote!(params[:score])
   rescue CommentVote::Error, ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid => x
     @error = x
-    render status: 500
+    render status: 422
   end
 
   def destroy
@@ -16,6 +16,6 @@ class CommentVotesController < ApplicationController
     @comment.unvote!
   rescue CommentVote::Error => x
     @error = x
-    render status: 500
+    render status: 422
   end
 end
diff --git a/app/views/comment_votes/create.json.erb b/app/views/comment_votes/create.json.erb
index 4b0d6500f..313a907c0 100644
--- a/app/views/comment_votes/create.json.erb
+++ b/app/views/comment_votes/create.json.erb
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-<% if @comment_vote.errors.any? %>
+<% if @error %>
+  {"success": false, "errors": <%= @error.to_s.to_json.html_safe %>}
+<% elsif @comment_vote.errors.any? %>
   {"success": false, "errors": <%= @comment_vote.errors.full_messages.to_json.html_safe %>}
 <% else %>
   {"success": true}
diff --git a/test/functional/comment_votes_controller_test.rb b/test/functional/comment_votes_controller_test.rb
index 953b500aa..740037b0a 100644
--- a/test/functional/comment_votes_controller_test.rb
+++ b/test/functional/comment_votes_controller_test.rb
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ class CommentVotesControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
         assert_difference("CommentVote.count", 0) do
           post :create, {:format => "json", :comment_id => @comment.id, :score => -1}, {:user_id => @user.id}
           assert_response 422
-          assert_equal("{\"errors\":{\"user_id\":[\"have already voted for this comment\"]}}", @response.body.strip)
+          assert_equal("{\"success\": false, \"errors\": \"Validation failed: You have already voted for this comment\"}", @response.body.strip)
         end
       end
     end
@@ -41,11 +41,11 @@ class CommentVotesControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
         end
       end
 
-      should "fail silently on errors" do
+      should "fail on errors" do
         FactoryGirl.create(:comment_vote, :comment => @comment, :score => -1)
         assert_difference("CommentVote.count", 0) do
           post :create, {:format => "js", :comment_id => @comment.id, :score => -1}, {:user_id => @user.id}
-          assert_response :success
+          assert_response 422
         end
       end
     end