Assemblymember Dr. Corey A. Jackson Launches Democracy Bootcamps Across California and Advances Legislative Package to Protect Civic Participation

Democracies rarely collapse all at once. More often, they are dismantled quietly. Through disinformation. Through disengagement. Through generations of people taught everything about survival in America except how our government actually works.

• Daniel Peeden
• [email protected]

Perris, CA - Democracies rarely collapse all at once. More often, they are dismantled quietly. Through disinformation. Through disengagement. Through generations of people taught everything about survival in America except how our government actually works.

That quiet dismantling is exactly what Assemblymember, Dr. Corey A. Jackson is working to confront.

This year, Assemblymember, Dr. Jackson is leading two Democracy Bootcamps, one in Southern California and one in Northern California, designed to equip everyday Californians with the tools many institutions have failed to provide: a practical understanding of government, civic power, democratic systems, and the responsibility required to preserve them.

The bootcamps aim to reach community members who were never invited into meaningful conversations about governance, policymaking, or democratic participation, despite being most impacted by the decisions made within those systems.

"When people do not understand how democracy works, it becomes easier to manipulate and easier to break," said Assemblymember Jackson. "We cannot protect a democracy people were never taught to navigate." Jackson said.

The Democracy Bootcamps are part of a broader Democracy Package authored by Jackson in the California Legislature, legislation rooted in a growing concern shared across communities: that voter confusion, political distrust, and civic disengagement are weakening the foundation of democratic participation itself.

The package includes AB 1552 and AB 1562, two bills that respond directly to those challenges by expanding civic education and broadening access to democratic participation.

AB 1552 ensures that students across the California State University and community college systems, while encouraging participation from the University of California system, receive meaningful instruction on democracy, civic engagement, democratic conflict, and the role institutions play in shaping public life.

The legislation requires campuses to review and modernize history and government curriculum to better prepare students not simply for employment, but for citizenship.

"We graduate students every year who can analyze complex systems but were never taught how to engage in the democracy they live under," Jackson said. "This is unacceptable."

AB 1562 seeks to fundamentally broaden who participates in the administration of elections by changing how poll workers, also known as precinct board members, are selected. Rather than relying primarily on volunteers with the time, access, or existing connections to serve, the bill creates a random selection process modeled after jury duty.

The goal is simple: elections should be administered by a true cross section of the public, not the same narrow circles year after year.

"If everyday people are trusted to sit on juries, they can be trusted to help run our elections," Jackson said. "Democracy works best when more people are inside the room, not locked out of it."

The legislation includes reasonable hardship exemptions and allows individuals 70 years of age or older to decline service.

Together, the Democracy Bootcamps and legislative package reflect a broader philosophy: that democracy is not self-sustaining. It survives only when people understand it, participate in it, and believe their voices matter within it.

"Democracy does not disappear overnight," Jackson said. "It weakens slowly when people stop learning about it, stop participating in it, or stop trusting it. This package is about stopping the quiet erosion of democracy. It is about making sure people understand their power and are invited to use it."

Both bills include protections to ensure local governments are reimbursed for any state-mandated costs.