diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 17cde6eb..e2fd617f 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-8.2.0-rc1
+8.2.0-rc1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/release_candidate.exs b/scripts/release_candidate.exs
index 0e358d4c..a5c45a3a 100755
--- a/scripts/release_candidate.exs
+++ b/scripts/release_candidate.exs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 {_, 0} = System.cmd("git", ["checkout", "staging"], into: IO.stream(:stdio, :line))
 {_, 0} = System.cmd("git", ["fetch", "--all"], into: IO.stream(:stdio, :line))
 {_, 0} = System.cmd("git", ["reset", "--hard", "origin/staging"], into: IO.stream(:stdio, :line))
-version = File.read!("VERSION") |> Version.parse!()
+version = File.read!("VERSION") |> String.trim() |> Version.parse!()
 [<<"rc", rc :: binary>>] = version.pre
 version = %{version | pre: ["rc#{String.to_integer(rc) + 1}"]}
 :ok = File.write!("VERSION", to_string(version))