diff --git a/clientsdb.py b/clientsdb.py
index ecce50a..327bb0a 100644
--- a/clientsdb.py
+++ b/clientsdb.py
@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@ def validate(clientemail, password):
 
     #2. check the password
     encpass = clientsdb[c_id]['encpasswd']
-    b_srvpass = password.encode('ascii')
-    b_encpass = encpass.encode('ascii')
+    b_srvpass = password.encode('ascii', 'ignore')
+    b_encpass = encpass.encode('ascii', 'ignore')
 
     if (hmac.compare_digest(bcrypt.hashpw(b_srvpass, b_encpass), b_encpass)):
         #login successful