diff --git a/refscrub/refscrub.py b/refscrub/refscrub.py
index 5f3714d5026dac28a454803375ea3e17e42c2a51..a05d4ea1d6271f76414943ba124c0f3d8cea9dc5 100644
--- a/refscrub/refscrub.py
+++ b/refscrub/refscrub.py
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ Packaged with conda.
 import argparse
 import struct
 import sys
-from io import open
 from os.path import basename, getsize, isfile
 
 PROG_VERSION = '2020.216'
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index f46c4df25595f43b299df6f696bf55d39fd7da58..6a9b920ea0786ca570af145969ce23eb1bc6ecd2 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 
 """The setup script."""
 
-from io import open
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
 with open('README.rst', 'rt') as readme_file:
diff --git a/tests/test_refscrub.py b/tests/test_refscrub.py
index 85a564d33c4a67c5456bc74f76764cd6c7b4b273..c9920728833fc616d91d89943132f55d564c4551 100644
--- a/tests/test_refscrub.py
+++ b/tests/test_refscrub.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 """Tests for `refscrub` package."""
 
 import argparse
-import io
 import os
 import unittest
 
@@ -42,8 +41,8 @@ class TestRefscrub(unittest.TestCase):
         main()
         self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile('scrubsum.txt'), "Error! Summary file "
                         "not created.")
-        with io.open("scrubsum.txt", "rt") as f_out:
+        with open("scrubsum.txt", "rt") as f_out:
             out = f_out.readlines()
-        with io.open(TEST_SUMMARY, "rt") as f_test:
+        with open(TEST_SUMMARY, "rt") as f_test:
             test = f_test.readlines()
         self.assertEqual(out, test)