diff --git a/parse.go b/parse.go
index 55ea356..4a930a4 100644
--- a/parse.go
+++ b/parse.go
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ func ParseFile(f io.Reader, options ...parseOption) (Ruleset, error) {
 	lineNo := 0
 	for scanner.Scan() {
 		lineNo++
-		line := scanner.Text()
+		line := strings.TrimSpace(scanner.Text())
 
 		// Ignore blank lines and comments
 		if len(line) == 0 || line[0] == '#' {
diff --git a/parse_test.go b/parse_test.go
index b16d6e1..f45a17e 100644
--- a/parse_test.go
+++ b/parse_test.go
@@ -47,6 +47,22 @@ func TestParseFile(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:     "with blank lines with whitespace",
+			contents: "\nfile.txt @user\n \t\nfile2.txt @org/team\n",
+			expected: Ruleset{
+				{
+					pattern:    mustBuildPattern(t, "file.txt"),
+					Owners:     []Owner{{Value: "user", Type: "username"}},
+					LineNumber: 2,
+				},
+				{
+					pattern:    mustBuildPattern(t, "file2.txt"),
+					Owners:     []Owner{{Value: "org/team", Type: "team"}},
+					LineNumber: 4,
+				},
+			},
+		},
 
 		// Error cases
 		{