Kūhiō returned from his self-imposed exile to take part in politics. He served from March 4, 1903, until his death, winning a total of ten elections. During this time he instituted local government at the county level, creating the county system that survives in Hawaiʻi. He staffed the resulting civil service positions with Hawaiian appointees. This move combined the political patronage system of 19th century American politics with the traditional Hawaiian chiefly role of beneficent delegation of authority to trusted retainers. In 1903, Kūhiō reorganized the
Royal Order of Kamehameha I, which held the first observance of the
Kamehameha Day holiday in 1904. He helped organize a
centenary celebration of the death of
Kamehameha I in 1919. In 1919, Kūhiō introduced in Congress the first-ever Hawaii Statehood Act. Forty years passed before it came to fruition.
Women's suffrage In 1915, political parties in the territory asked Kūhiō to bring a bill to the U.S. Congress that requested the right for the territorial legislature to rule on
women's suffrage. The
Organic Act established the Territory of Hawaii and specifically forbade the territorial legislature from granting suffrage on the local level contrary to the federal constitution. Kūhiō received no attention from Congress on the matter, but brought the issue forward again in 1916. In 1917 Kūhiō brought another bill to the United States Congress that was put forward by Senator
John F. Shaforth. The bill would allow the territory of Hawaii to decide suffrage. In 1918 New England suffragist
Almira Hollander Pitman, who was married to the son of Hawaiian chiefess
Kinoʻoleoliliha, helped successfully advocate for the passage of that bill. Pitman used her political contacts to help Kūhiō. The bill was enacted in June 1918. After the revision to the Organic Act, the Hawaiian legislature debated allowing women's suffrage from 1919 to 1920. The issue became deadlocked due to disagreement between the Hawaii Territorial Senate and the Hawaii Territorial House about whether the bill would take effect in the primary election of 1919 or 1920 and whether a referendum should decide the issue. Local legislation never passed because the following year Congress passed the suffrage-granting
Nineteenth Amendment.
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1921 During this period, the
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1921 was enacted. Despite Kūhiō's wishes, the Act required that recipients verify
blood-quantum requirements (the degree to which their ancestors were native Hawaiian), and leased land instead of granting fee-simple ownership, creating a perpetual government institution. This act and those that followed remain controversial in Hawaiian politics, and were used to justify more recent legislation such as the
Akaka Bill. Kūhiō served on the first Hawaiian Homes Commission starting on September 16, 1921. ==Death and funeral==