Final answer:
The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the state office that saw three straight officeholders serve without Senate confirmation, indicative of the increasing partisan obstacles and the strategy of 'malign neglect' facing nominations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The important state office that has recently seen three straight officeholders serve without receiving Senate confirmation is the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. During President Obama's term, the Senate initially refused to confirm any nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau due to a political sandstorm of obstruction and accusations, and partisan between a presidency and Senate controlled by opposite parties. Furthermore, the refusal of Senate confirmations was not exclusive to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but could also be seen in the case of Supreme Court nominations such as when Judge Merrick Garland was nominated to fill a vacancy but was denied a hearing, a situation scholars referred to as "malign neglect."