diff --git a/src/votekit/cvr_loaders.py b/src/votekit/cvr_loaders.py
index 428c320..bbdeb46 100644
--- a/src/votekit/cvr_loaders.py
+++ b/src/votekit/cvr_loaders.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def convert_row(row):
         return [int(item) if item.isdigit() else item for item in row]
 
     data = []
-    with open(fpath, "r") as f:
+    with open(fpath, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
         reader = csv.reader(f)
         for row in reader:
             # This just removes any empty strings that are hanging out since