Despite pleas not to curtail early voting, Mecklenburg County elections officials voted Monday to cut the overall number of hours from the 2012 election by 238, even while opening as many as 22 sites around the county.

The board of elections voted in front of an overflow crowd of about 150, almost all of whom wanted more hours to vote early.

Mecklenburg became the latest county to approve an early voting plan after a panel of federal judges threw out a sweeping 2013 election law. Along with requiring voters to show identification and ending same-day registration, the law cut the number of early voting days from 17 to 10 even as it mandated a floor for the number of hours….

Before kicking off Monday’s 2  1/2-hour meeting, board chair Mary Potter Summa, a Republican, told the crowd that she’s “not a fan of early voting.”

“The more (early voting) sites we have, the more opportunities exist for violations,” she said.

When she opened the floor for comment, 33 people spoke in favor of more early voting hours, or at least as many as in 2012. Only one argued for fewer.

Mecklenburg GOP Chair Claire Mahoney said more early voting sites and more hours make it harder for candidates, particularly those with a shoestring budget.

But critics said Mecklenburg’s growth in population and voter registration argues for more, not less, early voting. Some pointed to long early voting lines in 2012. Charlotte City Council member Vi Lyles, a Democrat, was among those urging the board to extend early voting.