A long-awaited bill that would offer the District more flexibility in scheduling its elections heads to a House vote tomorrow, moving the city closer to being able to respond more quickly when seats on the D.C. Council are vacated.

The bill, which would change the waiting time for a special election from the current 114 days to a more flexible 70 to 174 days after a vacancy is declared, has quickly made its way through the House after D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton complained that the existing law forced the city to schedule a special election for an empty Ward 5 seat on the D.C. Council for May 15, more than a month after the April 3 primary. The special election will cost D.C. taxpayers an additional $318,000.

The House has voted on the measure before, but it was held up in the U.S. Senate.