A McLean County judge has "reluctantly" accepted a plea agreement in a voter fraud case involving a Bloomington woman.
Suniti Sud, 56, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of attempting to vote twice in the 2024 general election.
In a hearing before Judge William Yoder, Sud admitted to knowingly trying to vote at a Bloomington polling place after having submitted a mail-in ballot in Wisconsin, where she has another residence.
The Bloomington Election Commission flagged the second ballot with the state's attorney's office, whose investigation led to Sud's arrest in September 2025.
In pleading guilty to the Class A misdemeanor of attempting to vote twice, Sud agreed to serve 24 months probation and pay a $500 fine, plus additional court fees. In exchange, the court dismissed three felony charges alleged in the same incident.
Yoder admonished Sud, saying he was "reluctantly accepting this plea agreement."
"Everybody gets to vote once. Not twice. Not 10 times," he said, adding the right to vote is among the most sacred and is part of why the United States "is the greatest country in the world."
Yoder said his decision to accept the plea was, in part, due to the "very favorable disposition" offered by Sud's attorney.
Sud is the second person recently sentenced in Illinois for attempting to vote twice. A Hoopeston woman was sentenced June 26 to three years probation and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine. Brenda Knuth, 61, admitted that she voted early in the election and then again on Election Day.
