Gerrymandering is once again making national headlines as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled voting districts in several states are unconstitutional.

But is it a problem in South Dakota?

Gerrymandering is the manipulation of district boundaries to benefit one political party over another.

This is just one example of the extreme lines drawn in North Carolina to get as many Republican voters into one district.

By comparison South Dakota's district map looks more straight forward, but opinions vary on whether it is also a problem in our state.

"When you look at the map of South Dakota, you see county lines followed," Republican Sen. Jim Bolin said.

Bolin was on the 15-member legislative committee that drew the latest district map in 2011.

"I do not think it's a problem in South Dakota," Republican Sen. Kris Langer said. "We work really hard in South Dakota to set up a bipartisan effort."

Langer and Bolin said it follows county, city and voting precinct boundaries.

"If you look at the maps in Aberdeen and here in Sioux Falls, there's definitely some odd drawings on those maps," Democratic Sen. Billie Sutton said.

Senate Minority Leader Sutton said he believes Gerrymandering is contributing to the Democratic Party's low representation in Pierre.

Right now just 16 percent of state legislators are Democrats, while 30 percent of South Dakota's voters registered Democrat.

"I think that points to exactly the problem we're talking about, that we need to draw districts more fairly," Sutton said.

"If we tried to draw lines to some how accommodate so that we have an exact 30 percent representation for the minority party, we'd have lines snaking all over the state of South Dakota," Bolin said. "We would not in any way be able to maintain county boundaries."

Republicans argue voting districts are not the issue.

"Other factors entering in are the problem for the minority party in South Dakota," Bolin said.

"I think the big this is just people being involved in the process, caring enough to vote," Langer said.

"Certainly there are probably other factors -- what's going on nationally from election cycle to election cycle -- that's always going to play a role, doesn't play as big of a role as how the districts are drawn," Sutton said.

Sutton said he would like to see a non-partisan group draw district lines rather than legislators.

The Republicans KSFY News spoke with said they are not necessarily opposed to the idea. It is how Iowa already operates -- a 2017 Associated Press report found evidence of Gerrymandering all over the United States, but not in Iowa.

District maps are drawn every 10 years right after the census data is released.

The next state voting districts will be determined in 2021.