diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -18,13 +18,16 @@
 
 from setuptools import find_packages, setup
 
-with open('requirements.txt', 'rt') as reqs_file:
+with open('requirements.txt', 'rt', encoding="ascii") as reqs_file:
     REQUIREMENTS = reqs_file.readlines()
 
+with open('README.rst', encoding="ascii") as readme_file:
+    readme_content = readme_file.read()
+
 setup(
     name='foremast',
     description='Tools for creating infrastructure and Spinnaker Pipelines.',
-    long_description=open('README.rst').read(),
+    long_description=readme_content,
     long_description_content_type='text/x-rst',
     author='Foremast',
     author_email='ps-devops-tooling@example.com',
fix: file open linting issues in setup.py