How to Use the BallotReady MCP in Windsurf

Q: Can this MCP server find who currently holds an office?

It can. The getofficeholders tool retrieves the current officeholders for any given district. You can ask your AI client to find your district first, then get the people currently in charge.

Let Windsurf's Cascade agent find your voting districts, candidates, and ballot info automatically. Just give it an address and a goal.

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Connect BallotReady MCP to Windsurf

Create your Vinkius account to connect BallotReady to Windsurf and route execution through our secure gateway. The platform manages server hosting, runtime updates, and security layers. Configuration requires no manual server provisioning.

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Setup BallotReady with Windsurf

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Find Your Next Election, Hands-Free

Tell Windsurf to find your polling info. Cascade takes over, chaining tools to get the job done. It'll start with `list_districts` to match your address to voting districts, then automatically run `list_elections` to find what's coming up. You don't prompt each step. Cascade sees the districts from the first tool and feeds them into the next. It just works. You get a clean list of elections without any back-and-forth.

Research Candidates in One Shot with Windsurf

Ask Windsurf to "build a profile of everyone running for city council." Cascade maps out a plan. It uses `list_positions` to find the right office, then `list_candidates` to get the names. From there, it loops through the list, calling `get_candidate` for each person to pull their detailed profile. You get a complete report without having to manually look up each candidate one by one. This is what an autonomous MCP Server connection is for.

Map an Address to All Civic Data

The `get_districts_by_address` tool is a shortcut for finding all relevant districts for a given location. Give Cascade an address, and it uses this tool to get a complete list of federal, state, and local districts in a single call. Windsurf doesn't stop there. It can use that district data to then fetch current officeholders with `get_officeholders` or check for specific ballot measures using `get_ballot_measures`. It's a straight line from an address to a full civic snapshot.

Setup guide

Set up BallotReady MCP in Windsurf

Prerequisites

Windsurf IDE installed (macOS, Windows, or Linux)
Active Vinkius subscription with a valid endpoint token

1

Open MCP configuration

Click the Cascade assistant icon in the sidebar, then click the hammer icon (🔨) at the top of the panel. Select "Configure" to open ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json.
2

Add the BallotReady MCP

Paste the JSON snippet shown on the right into the mcpServers object. Replace [YOUR_TOKEN_HERE] with your endpoint token from cloud.vinkius.com.
3

Refresh MCPs

Go back to the hammer icon (🔨) in Cascade and click "Refresh". Windsurf will detect the new server. No full restart is needed — the connection is hot-reloaded.
4

Verify in Cascade

Start a new Cascade conversation and ask something like "Show my BallotReady payment history." If connected, Cascade will call the BallotReady tools directly. You will see a green dot next to the server name in the MCP panel.

mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ballotready-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp"
    }
  }
}

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Independent Platform Disclaimer: Vinkius is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, verified by, or otherwise authorized by BallotReady. All third-party trademarks, logos, and brand names are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this website is strictly for informational purposes to identify service compatibility and interoperability.

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Common questions about BallotReady MCP in Windsurf

BallotReady exposes its tools to Windsurf. When you give Cascade a goal, like "find my ballot," it automatically chains BallotReady tools like `list_elections` and `list_candidates` to get the answer without you prompting each step.

Yes. Just ask Windsurf to find ballot measures for your area. It will use BallotReady's `get_ballot_measures` tool, likely after first finding your specific election dates with `get_elections_by_address`.

Use the built-in MCP Marketplace in Windsurf. Find BallotReady, click install, and the tools are immediately available to Cascade. No manual config files needed.

It can. The `get_officeholders` tool retrieves the current officeholders for any given district. You can ask your AI client to find your district first, then get the people currently in charge.

BallotReady only processes the addresses you provide to find election data. Vinkius secures the connection, and the server itself is ephemeral, meaning no address data is stored after your request is complete.

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