diff --git a/src/vt/vrt/collection/balance/lb_data_holder.cc b/src/vt/vrt/collection/balance/lb_data_holder.cc
index ffd1faaf50..c3316f29e2 100644
--- a/src/vt/vrt/collection/balance/lb_data_holder.cc
+++ b/src/vt/vrt/collection/balance/lb_data_holder.cc
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ std::unique_ptr<nlohmann::json> LBDataHolder::toJson(PhaseType phase) const {
   }
 
   i = 0;
-  if (node_comm_.find(phase) != node_comm_.end()) {
+  if (node_comm_.contains(phase)) {
     for (auto const& [key, volume] : node_comm_.at(phase)) {
       j["communications"][i]["bytes"] = volume.bytes;
       j["communications"][i]["messages"] = volume.messages;
diff --git a/src/vt/vrt/collection/balance/model/raw_data.cc b/src/vt/vrt/collection/balance/model/raw_data.cc
index d2560ae2ff..09d58aadea 100644
--- a/src/vt/vrt/collection/balance/model/raw_data.cc
+++ b/src/vt/vrt/collection/balance/model/raw_data.cc
@@ -131,8 +131,8 @@ ElmUserDataType RawData::getUserData(ElementIDStruct object, PhaseOffset offset)
 
 CommMapType RawData::getComm(PhaseOffset offset) const {
   auto phase = getNumCompletedPhases() + offset.phases;
-  if (auto it = proc_comm_->find(phase); it != proc_comm_->end()) {
-    return it->second;
+  if (auto it = proc_comm_->find(phase); it != nullptr) {
+    return *it;
   } else {
     return CommMapType{};
   }