I try to show good faith by carrying a canister and placing my most bear-enticing food in it, and I am careful to hang the rest of the food or store it in bear boxes that can be found in numerous areas throughout SEKI. Indeed, in certain areas of the park, the only safe place for food storage is in these food lockers. I was hiking through Vidette Meadows a few years back and came across an elderly hiker who had been attacked by a bear near lower Vidette Meadows. The bear was attempting to open his food canister and wasn't about to be deterred by this human trying to scare him away from it. My personal opinion is that this bear should be put down.Also, it's pretty standard, especially for Kearsarge, for hikers to have overflow. All of the backcountry rangers have been OK with that. It does happen occasionally, though, that you run into a non-backcountry ranger who takes a stricter view of things.
So the short answer is go ahead, but at least have one canister to show good faith.
MM, this might be a good topic for you to bring up in a separate post. It is a highly contentious issue for many hikers, similar to the debate about the need to filter water.
P.S. -- you are a better packer than me if you can fit 9 days food in one canister!