diff --git a/helios/models.py b/helios/models.py
index 28f1dc664..3947b64c2 100644
--- a/helios/models.py
+++ b/helios/models.py
@@ -680,7 +680,7 @@ def process(self):
 
     # now we're looking straight at the content
     if self.voter_file_content:
-      voter_stream = StringIO.StringIO(self.voter_file_content)
+      voter_stream = StringIO.StringIO(self.voter_file_content.encode('utf-8'))
     else:
       voter_stream = open(self.voter_file.path, "rU")