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Miranda Combs is a Staff Writer for Declare. An Emmy- and Murrow Award-winning investigative reporter and news director in Kentucky, Combs began her career with WKYT in Lexington as the station’s crime reporter before breaking from television to join the firm Preston-Osborne, where she led one of its biggest accounts, FACES of Coal. TV called Combs back in 2013, where she was the only investigative reporter-and-anchor combination in the broadcast region. Her work brought home an Emmy Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award, along with several Kentucky Associated Press awards.

In 2020, Combs was made the communications director for the Kentucky secretary of state. She gained special recognition when she helped implement a policy of putting QR codes on the sides of beer cans across the commonwealth, linking them to register to vote. During her time in the secretary’s office, she also helped advocate and pass a law giving adoptive parents the same maternity leave as maternal parents.

Combs returned to the news business as assistant news director at WDKY in Lexington, and most recently became news director at WTVQ prior to joining Declare.
Administration

Retirements or Not, New Stresses on Election Administrators Create Burnout

Turnover in election administration is becoming better documented, based on recent research. But what is for certain is the changing nature of the job under threat.
Trust

AI: A ‘Really Smart Intern’ for Election Offices?

A project at Arizona State University is trying to help election admins identify uses of AI that benefit their constituents — and make up for the lack of staff.
Trust

What Is Meant by the Term ‘Paper Ballots’

A primer for one of the most uttered misunderstandings about U.S. elections.
Policy

It Wasn’t a ‘Voter ID Measure’ that Failed in Maine

Question 1 in the Pine Tree State fell far short of approval because its opponents described the details mostly right — even if out of order.
Policy

Several States Put Noncitizen Voting Issue in Perspective

States from Kentucky to Texas are clarifying that only citizens may vote while administrators remind the public how rare the problem is.
Administration

Election Bills Mount, and Administrators Adjust

Pinal County’s connection to Phoenix illustrates how administrators now spend as much time shaping election policy as running it, with hundreds of bills to monitor every year.