Before papyrus?

 Ancient Athens had tried to break this [ demagogue] cycle. 

After suffering through ruinous wars and rampant corruption brought on by a spate of demagogues, Athens passed a law allowing citizens to vote, using small pieces of pottery on which they scratched names, to ostracize—to exile for 10 years—any politician “violating democratic principles.” As The Economist recently noted, Athenian ostracism was equivalent to impeachment and was “at the heart of the Athenian political system.”