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Minn. Stat. § 200.02, subds. 8, 9 (defining the term "municipality" to include charter <br />cities). Further, state law identifies only a handful of statutory exceptions that do not <br />apply to charter cities. Minn. Stat. § 205.02, subd. 2 ("[S]ections 205.065, subdivisions 4 <br />to 6; 205.07, subdivision 3; 205.10; 205.121; and 205.17, subdivision 3, do not apply to a <br />city whose charter provides the manner of holding its primary, general or special <br />elections."). <br />Given the specificity of these exceptions and the blanket statement that charter <br />cities must conduct their elections in accordance with Minnesota Election Law,1 it is <br />possible that a court would determine that state law "fully occupies [the] particular field <br />of" municipal election law. In light of the strong potential that state law may be <br />determined to preempt the provisions of the City Charter related to City elections, the <br />safest course of action is to presume that the City Charter may not deviate from state law <br />unless there is specific authorization to do so. Therefore, where there are potential <br />conflicts between the City Charter and provisions of state law, the safest course is to <br />resolve those conflicts in favor of state law. <br />The following pages go through Chapter 4 of the Charter section by section, <br />showing the proposed changes and providing comments on the rationale for those <br />changes. <br />1 See Minn. Stat. § 200.015 ("The Minnesota Election Law applies to all elections held in <br />this state unless otherwise specifically provided by law."); see also Minn. Stat. § 200.01 <br />(defining "Minnesota Election Law" to include chapters 200 through 211C). <br />2 <br />